Ратуша Нью-Йорка: История и архитектура

Seat of New York City's government

New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, The building houses the office of the Mayor of New York City and the chambers of the New York City Council. While the Mayor's Office is in the building, the staff of thirteen municipal agencies under mayoral control are located in the nearby Manhattan Municipal Building, one of the largest government buildings in the world, with many others housed in various buildings in the immediate vicinity. New York City Hall is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated both City Hall's exterior and interior as official city landmarks in 1966 and 1976, respectively.

New Amsterdam's first City Hall was built by the Dutch Republic in the 17th century near present day 73 Pearl Street. The first structure was demolished in 1690.

The city's second City Hall, built in 1700, stood on Wall and Nassau Streets. That building was renamed Federal Hall in 1789, after New York became the first official capital of the United States after the Constitution was ratified. It was demolished in 1812 and current Federal Hall was built in 1842. Plans for building a new City Hall were discussed by the New York City Council as early as 1776, but the financial strains of the war delayed progress. The Council chose a site at the old Common at the northern limits of the city, now City Hall Park. City Hall was originally an area for the first almshouse in 1653. In 1736, there was a financed almshouse for those who were fit to work, for the unfit, and those that were like criminals but were paupers.

In 1802, New York City held a competition for a new City Hall. The first prize of $350 was awarded to Joseph François Mangin and John McComb Jr. Mangin studied architecture in his native France before becoming a New York City surveyor in 1795 and publishing an official map of the city in 1803 that was largely discredited for its inaccuracies. Mangin later served as the architect of the landmarked St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street. McComb, whose father had worked on the old City Hall, was a New Yorker and designed Castle Clinton in Battery Park, among other buildings and structures. Mangin had no known involvement with City Hall after winning the commission. McComb alone supervised every aspect of construction and was in charge of the architectural modifications and detailing during the extended building process. Construction was delayed after the City Council objected that the design was too extravagant. In response, McComb reduced the size of the building and used brownstone at the rear of the building to lower costs. The brownstone, along with the original deteriorated Massachusetts marble facade, quarried from Alford, Massachusetts, was later replaced with Alabama limestone between 1954 and 1956. Labor disputes and an outbreak of yellow fever further slowed construction. The building was not dedicated until 1811, and opened officially in 1812. The New York City Police riot occurred in front of New York City Hall between the recently dissolved New York Municipal Police and the newly formed Metropolitan Police on June 16, 1857. Municipal police fought with Metropolitan officers who were attempting to arrest New York City Mayor Fernando Wood.

In 1953, the city's public works commissioner Frederick H. Zurmuhlen requested $2.2 million to repair City Hall's facade, which was crumbling. On July 23, 2003, at 2:08 p. m., City Hall was the scene of a rare political assassination. Othniel Askew, a political rival of City Councilman James E. Davis, opened fire with a pistol from the balcony of the City Council chamber. Askew shot Davis twice, fatally wounding him. A police officer on the floor of the chamber then fatally shot Askew. Askew and Davis had entered the building together without passing through a metal detector, a courtesy extended to elected officials and their guests. As a result of the security breach, then Mayor Michael Bloomberg revised security policy to require that everyone entering the building pass through metal detectors without exception. In 2008, work began on a restoration of the building, after a century without a major renovation. The construction included structural enhancements, upgrades to building services, as well as in depth restoration of much of the interior and exterior. Due to the complexity of the demands of the project, the New York City Department of Design and Construction hired Hill International to provide construction management. Renovations were originally estimated to cost $104 million and take four years, but ended up costing nearly $150 million and taking over five years.

The area around City Hall is commonly referred to as the Civic Center. Most of the neighborhood consists of government offices (city, state, and federal), as well as an increasing number of upscale residential dwellings being converted from older commercial structures. Architectural landmarks surround City Hall, including St. Paul's Chapel, St. Peter's Church, the Home Life Building, the Rogers Peet Building, and the Woolworth Building to the west; the Broadway–Chambers Building to the northwest; 280 Broadway, 49 Chambers, Tweed Courthouse, and Surrogate's Courthouse to the north; the Manhattan Municipal Building to the northeast; the Brooklyn Bridge to the east; and the New York Times Building, the Potter Building, and the Park Row Building to the southwest. City Hall Park is approximately three blocks away from the World Trade Center to the west. Pace University's New York City campus is located across Park Row from City Hall.

Located directly under City Hall Park is the former City Hall subway station, the original southern terminal of the first service of the New York City Subway built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). Opened on October 27, 1904, this station beneath the public area in front of City Hall was designed to be the showpiece of the new subway. The platform and mezzanine feature Guastavino tile, skylights, colored glass tile work and brass chandeliers. Passenger service was discontinued on December 31, 1945, although the station is still used as a turning loop for trains. Another station named City Hall also exists on the BMT Broadway Line, albeit on the western side of City Hall and not directly under it. This station was built in 1918 for the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). Other nearby, open subway stations are Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall/Chambers Street and Chambers Street–World Trade Center/Park Place/Cortlandt Street .

Google Maps uses New York City Hall as the zero mile point from which distances from New York City are measured.