Milwaukee City Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Milwaukee City Hall | |
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Milwaukee City Hall was the world's tallest building from 1895 to 1899.* |
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| Preceded by | Manhattan Life Insurance Building |
| Surpassed by | Park Row Building |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Milwaukee, USA |
| Status | Complete |
| Constructed | 1895 |
| Technical Details | |
| Floor count | 15 |
| * Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to rooftop; see world's tallest structures for other listings. | |
The Milwaukee City Hall, at 393 feet (108 m) tall, is one of the oldest standing skyscrapers. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. It was finished in 1895 and enjoyed a four year reign as the world's tallest building until the completion of the Park Row Building in New York City.
Milwaukee City Hall was designed by architect Henry Koch in the German Renaissance Revival style, based on both German precedent (the Hamburg Rathaus, or city hall), and local examples (the Pabst Building, demolished in 1980). Due to Milwaukee's historic German immigrant population, many of the surrounding buildings mirror this design. The foundation consists of 2,584 white pine piles which were driven in to the marshy land surrounding the Milwaukee River. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt after a fire in October 1929. As of 2006, the entire building is being renovated, including a complete disassembly and reassembly of the bell tower. Before the restoration began, the bell was rung rarely due to seismic concerns, and in the last few years an assembly of scaffolds with protective coverings had been in place around the building to protect pedestrians from falling stone and brickwork.
City Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005. City Hall is notable as the scene of the largest Socialist victory ever registered in an American city, when in 1910 Emil Seidel and a majority Socialist Common Council swept into office. Although the Socialist majority on the Common Council was short-lived, the city was led by Socialist mayors from 1916 to 1960. Mayor Daniel Hoan (1916-1940) and his successor Frank Zeidler (1948-1960) did little to advance the cause of Socialism in general, but their tenures in office were marked by honesty, efficiency, and an emphasis on provision of services for the working class.
City Hall was the marketing symbol of Milwaukee until the completion of the Calatrava wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2001, but the bell tower continues to be used as a municipal icon and in some traffic and parking signs. Formerly the tower had a message board on the front three sides; the Welcome Milwaukee Visitors message on the building was one of the iconic images of the opening sequence for locally-set Laverne and Shirley.
The bell in City Hall was named after Solomon Juneau, Milwaukee's first mayor. It was designed and crafted by the Campbells, who were early pioneers in creating diving chambers and suits near the Great Lakes area during that time.
