City Hall
فيلادلفيا
City Hall is Philadelphia's city government building, finished in 1901 after about thirty years of work. It is the largest city hall in the United States, with William Penn's statue atop its tower.
A record-breaking building
The plan was for the tallest building in the world. But the work took so long that other buildings overtook it before it was finished. When it was completed, it was still the tallest occupied building in the world. With the statue, it reaches about 167 meters.
Walls as thick as a room
The architect was John McArthur. The walls of the lowest floor are made of blocks of white granite, up to almost seven meters thick. The building is seven stories high and at first had 634 rooms. It is still the largest city hall in the country.
A city of statues
The sculptor Alexander Milne Calder created more than two hundred and fifty sculptures. Each facade has a theme: government, justice, and a different continent. At the corners of the tower there are four huge groups, as tall as a three-story house.
William Penn on the tower
The statue of William Penn was cast in 1888 in a city foundry. It is more than eleven meters tall and is the largest statue in the world on top of a building. It stands about one hundred and fifty meters above the sidewalk. In recent decades, restorers have climbed to the top of the statue about every ten years. They cleaned it and protected it from rain and wind.
