The Hartford Municipal Building, also known as Hartford City Hall, is a historic
Beaux-Arts structure located at 550 Main Street in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
. Completed in 1915, it is a prominent local example of Beaux-Arts architecture, and is the third building to serve as city hall. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1981.
Description and history
Hartford's first city hall was a Greek Revival building, erected in 1827 and located at the corner of Market and Kingsley Streets. In 1897, the city offices were moved to the 1796
Old State House, which the state had made available after construction of the present
Connecticut State Capitol
The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Hous ...
. It was soon judged to be too small, and the present building was completed in 1915 after a design competition.
Davis & Brooks
Davis & Brooks was an American architectural firm based in Hartford, Connecticut, active from 1897 to 1919. It was established by F. Irvin Davis (1869-1944) and William F. Brooks (1872-1950). Among their projects is the Hartford Municipal Buil ...
, the winning architects, were local architects who had recently designed an addition to the high school. They shared the honor with
Palmer & Hornbostel
Henry Hornbostel (August 15, 1867 – December 13, 1961) was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Regis ...
of New York and Pittsburgh, who were associated in the design, though the project was executed by Davis & Brooks alone.
[ Land for the building was donated by ]J. Pierpont Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
, who sought a suitable use for the parcel adjacent to a wing he had recently donated to the Wadsworth Atheneum
The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...
.[ The structure is built of brick faced with Bethel white granite, a copper and tile roof, and doors made of ]bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
. It has a three-story central atrium which is wide and long, decorated with panels depicting the history of the city of Hartford. The basement level has extensive Guastavino tile
The Guastavino tile arch system is a version of Catalan vault introduced to the United States in 1885 by Spanish architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908). It was patented in the United States by Guastavino in 1892.
Description
...
vaulting.
See also
*
References
{{reflist
External links
Pictures of the Hartford Municipal BuildingMunicipal Building — Hartford Preservation Alliance
(National Register of Historic Places. Inventory—Nomination Form)
Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut
City halls in Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford, Connecticut
Government buildings completed in 1915
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut