Houston City Hall
Houston City Hall | |
---|---|
City hall | |
Architectural style | Art Deco, Modernistic |
Address | 901 Bagby Street Houston, Texas 77002 |
Coordinates | 29°45′37″N 95°22′10″W / 29.7602°N 95.3694°W |
Construction started | March 7, 1938 |
Completed | July 1939 |
Cost | $1.67 million USD |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 17 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Joseph Finger |
Houston City Hall | |
Area | 3.1 acres (1.3 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 90001471[1] |
Added to NRHP | September 18, 1990 |
The Houston City Hall building is the headquarters of the
History
From 1841 to 1939, Houston's municipal government was headquartered at Old Market Square. It was destroyed by fire in the 1870s, and also in 1901, and rebuilt each time. In those days, City Hall was part of the lively commercial atmosphere of the Square. However, by the 1920s, the city leaders decided the site was no longer appropriate for their needs.[3]
In 1929, the city's planning commission urged the establishment of a
On July 15, 2008, world-renowned surgeon Dr.
Usage
The
Beginning in October 2013, 12,000 Square feet of space on the West side of the first floor was renovated for use by HTV Houston Television ( HTV studios ). The renovations were overseen by Balfour Beatty Construction[8] and were completed on March 14, 2014.[9]
Architectural details
The architect of the City Hall was Joseph Finger, an Austrian-born Texan architect responsible for a number of Houston-area landmarks.[2]
The exterior of the building features a sculpture by Herring Coe and Raoul Josset, and regional white, pock-market Texas limestone. The front faces Hermann Square, accessible by a series of paved terraces and stairs. The City hired Hare and Hare of Kansas City to design the rectangular pool and its surrounding landscaping, which includes lawns, rows of shrubs, and live oak trees.[10]
The design on the lobby floor depicts the protective role of government. In the grillwork above the main entrances are medallions of "great lawgivers" from ancient times to the founding of America, including Thomas Jefferson, Charlemagne, Julius Caesar and Moses,[3] and an outdated city seal adorns the interior doorknobs.[2]
The building is faced with Texas Cordova
Above the lobby entrance is a stone sculpture depicting two men taming a wild horse, which is meant to symbolize a community coming together to form a government to tame the world around them. The plaster cast for this sculpture, and twenty-seven casts for
Hermann Square
The front of the city hall building steps down to a small park, George and Martha Hermann Square, which is dominated by a
Although there is some speculation about whether or not people are allowed to stay in the park overnight, the Parks Department officially says that people are not permitted to sleep there. In 1987, the city attorney's office stated in the Houston Chronicle that the police are not to arrest anyone sleeping in the park.[2]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Houston City Hall". www.glasssteelandstone.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- ^ a b c d "Project Profiles – Houston City Hall". Resources, Hunter, www.hunterindustries.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- JSTOR 3525687.
- ^ Hlavaty, Craig. "Texas history group says it found unfinished part of Houston City Hall." Houston Chronicle. February 7, 2014. Retrieved on March 30, 2014.
- ^ "DeBakey remembered as medical pioneer, good friend - Yahoo! News". Retrieved July 1, 2023.
- ^ "City Council Meeting Schedule" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ http://www.houstontx.gov/citysec/agendas/2013/Oct0813.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Press Release". Archived from the original on 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
- ISBN 9780615669595.
- ^ "City Hall History". About Houston Government, City of Houston, www.houstontx.gov. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
External links
Media related to Houston City Hall at Wikimedia Commons
- Houston City Hall at CityMayors.com
- A collection of historical photographs about Houston, nearby communities, and more can be found at the University of Houston Digital Library