Resolution 060328

..Title Commemorating Philadelphia's City Hall for being awarded the honorable distinction as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. ..Body WHEREAS, Philadelphia's City Hall, one of the City's greatest architectural treasures, is literally in the heart of Philadelphia, in Center Square - William Penn's exact geographical center of his plan for Philadelphia; and WHEREAS, The building, designed by John McArthur, Jr., was constructed over a thirty-year period starting in 1871; and WHEREAS, Being almost square in plan with a center exterior courtyard and two lightwells, the building contains over one million square feet of interior space, and about 700 rooms making it the largest city hall in the country; and WHEREAS, Its richly ornamented perimeter facades extend nearly 500 feet along each side and the masonry on the tower rises to three hundred thirty-seven feet with the top of William Penn's hat topping the tower at 548 feet and weighing almost 27 tons; and WHEREAS, The facades, the fifty-story clock tower, and the four portal entries are adorned throughout with a fantastic array of monumental marble and bronze sculptures as well as ornamental motifs designed and executed under the direction of the renowned sculptor, Alexander Milne Calder; and WHEREAS, It is now a National Historic Landmark, arguably one of the finest examples of French Second Empire architecture in the United States, and the tallest masonry bearing wall building in the world; now therefore RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby commemorate Philadelphia's City Hall for being awarded the honorable distinction as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers; and FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the American Society of Civil Engineers. ..End