Houston City Hall
| Houston City Hall | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 Houston City Hall with reflecting pools in the foreground |
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| location | Houston , Harris County , Texas | ||
| Coordinates | 29 ° 45 '36.5 " N , 95 ° 22' 9.8" W | ||
| Built | 1938-39 | ||
| architect | Joseph Finger | ||
| Architectural style | Art deco | ||
| NRHP number | 90001471 | ||
| The NRHP added | September 18, 1990 | ||
The Houston City Hall is the seat of the Municipality of Houston and in the National Register of Historic Places listed.
history
In the 1920s it became clear that the old town hall, which had existed since 1841 on Old Market Square, a building site donated by the town's founders and brothers John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, was no longer suitable for housing the town council. In 1927, Houston City Hall began funding by issuing bonds . During the Great Depression , the work of the planning committee for the new building came to a standstill. Therefore, the Public Works Administration (PWA), a federal public works program created in June 1933 under the New Deal , applied for job creation support. On August 8, 1937, this was granted and the city received a grant from the Works Progress Administration . Shortly afterwards, the western part of George and Martha Hermann Square was designated as a building site by the planning commission and Mayor RH Fonville.
Contrary to Fonville's objections, who did not like his modern style, the decision was made in October 1937 for the Austrian-born Joseph Finger to be the architect. He also designed the Texas State Hotel, today's 1940 Air Terminal Museum and other buildings in Houston. The Bates Construction Company was commissioned with the construction. A lawsuit against the sale of the bonds to finance Houston City Hall was dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court but delayed the start of construction.
The eleven-story Houston City Hall was built from March 7, 1938 to July 1939 and is flanked by Tranquility Park and the Houston Public Library, in what is now Downtown Houston, amid several skyscrapers . The foundation stone was laid on October 1, 1938 and a time capsule with a Bible, a copy of the city charter, three daily newspapers from Houston and the annual report of the city auditor at the time was deposited in it. The construction costs for the town hall, built in the Art Déco style from Texan limestone , including the surrounding park design and interior furnishings, amounted to 1,670,000 US dollars. The Houston City Hall was one of the first fully air-conditioned office buildings in the city. The design of the Houston City Hall is similar to many other city halls built in the southwestern United States at the time.
On December 3rd, the Mayor and City Council moved into their new offices at Houston City Hall. The old town hall was converted into a bus station and destroyed in a fire in 1960.
On September 18, 1990, Houston City Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
architecture
The entrance doors were manufactured using die-cast aluminum . In the latticework above the entrance, aluminum medals represent the great legislators in world history, including Akhenaten, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and Thomas Jefferson. In the lintel above the portal to the foyer, a stone relief depicts two men taming a wild horse. The walls of the foyer as well as those of the vestibules to the elevators, the housing walls of which are made of walnut, are clad with light-colored, veined marble. A plaster relief on the ceiling of the foyer depicts the western hemisphere, surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac, with the five-pointed star of Houston's city flag as the center. The staircase leading from the basement to the third floor has marble steps and an aluminum railing.
In front of Houston City Hall to the east is George and Martha Hermann Square, in the middle of which there is a reflecting pool .
Web links
- Gregor Gosciniak: Houston City Hall built for the masses not the classes. In: Official website of the think tank . City Mayors Foundation , March 1, 2007, accessed July 23, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the information is based on City Hall History. In: Official website of the city of Houston. City of Houston, accessed July 23, 2011 (English, Spanish).
- ^ City Hall (Houston). In: Global Architecture Encyclopedia. Glass Steel and Stone, archived from the original on January 3, 2014 ; accessed on July 23, 2011 .
- ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed April 13, 2016