SkyscraperPage Forum - Most Beautiful City Halls In North America

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San Diego City Hall...probably one of the worst...way overdue for replacement

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/...3831c7.jpg?v=0

Spoonman, San Diego's is indeed an awful one, with quite a few other uninteresting slabs clustered nearby.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph (Post 7510212)

Spoonman, San Diego's is indeed an awful one, with quite a few other uninteresting slabs clustered nearby.

On the plus side, there is a replacement planned for SD City Hall. Here is a rendering.

http://www.jetsongreen.com/images/ol...970b-800wi.png

Completely different form and style than the San Diego Country Administration Building

http://continuumweddings.com/wp-cont...er-Wedding.jpg

http://i.embed.ly/1/display/resize?k....jpg&width=810

Vegas's isn't very stately or city hall like, but is an attractive building nonetheless.

http://www.dovegasdeals.com/wp-conte...-galleries.jpg

http://www.lasvegas360.com/360/wp-co...ll-610x417.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by spoonman (Post 7510244)

Couldn't be two more diametrically opposed buildings than the hideous San Diego City Hall and the gorgeous San Diego County Admin Building.

Can someone load photos of the Holyoke, MA city hall? And San Jose, CA and Santa Barbara, CA?

LA Kurt, see post #182 for San Jose City Hall. I also have many posted in my thread here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=211177

Philly wins, although San Francisco is a close second. Not only is the Philly City hall building one of the prettiest and domineering city halls in the country but it's also one of the most impressive buildings in the world in my opinion. A masterpiece of the Second Empire style.

City Hall: Vancouver City Hall
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Architect: Townley and Matheson
Completed: 1936

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/S9FnG6.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/8wglRn.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/MxYzS0.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/Kk01NH.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/LwjDKZ.jpg

All photos taken by geomorph in 2017.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph (Post 7509407)

Pictures of this one seem to be missing from earlier posts, so here is:

City Hall: San Francisco City Hall
Location: San Francisco, California
Architect: Arthur Brown, Jr.
Completed: 1915

That date of 1915 being significant for the fact that there was a little disturbance in the force in 1906 that brought down its beautiful (if not so sturdy) predecessor:

As it was 1900-1905
http://www.foundsf.org/images/b/b0/T...-hall-1905.jpg

http://www.foundsf.org/images/f/f7/City-Hall_c1900.jpg

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/1/...l_pre-1906.JPG

https://www.weddingphotographersanfr...-city-hall.jpg

And then, 1906
https://diddlybop.ru/wp-content/uplo...-city-hall.jpg
All images: https://www.google.com/search?q=San+...l-z8TWugNGp0M:

Holy crap, never knew about that building, it's simply incredible, was anything saved from it after the fire and earthquake?

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith (Post 7882236)

Holy crap, never knew about that building, it's simply incredible, was anything saved from it after the fire and earthquake?

Only the "Pioneer Monument" statue that was outside as far as I know--it now sits between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._rear_view.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._rear_view.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian (Post 7881430)

That is gorgeous.

Kind of surprised all of the love the old SF City Hall is getting. To my eyes, the new city hall is clearly superior. The old one is overdone with cartoonish proportions and funky symmetry. It's like three or four different buildings trying to fight for supremacy. It's no doubt more unique, but I'm not sure that makes it better.

Anyway, my mayor on his way out is trying to ram through a process to sell our current 1950's modern city hall so a developer can building some garrish PoMo crap on a valuable piece of land. A reminder of what's currently there:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2509/...d0cdbb23_b.jpg
Lansing, Michigan City Hall by Jordan McAlister, on Flickr

And some early concepts the city is showing for what could replace it:

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/a6a...55560-pic1.JPG

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ab1...81494-pic2.JPG

Never really liked the current style, but it's grown on me, especially when you see what it could be replaced with. In fact, that first concept is actually a tower someone proposed for the riverfront just before the recession that didn't make it.

I do not know what to say, I can only say that these pictures are very beautiful. Thank you for them!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMich (Post 7883517)

Kind of surprised all of the love the hotel SF City Hall is getting. To my eyes, the new city hall is clearly superior. The old one is overdone with cartoonish proportions and funky symmetry. It's like three or four different buildings trying to fight for supremacy. It's no doubt more unique, but I'm not sure that makes it better.

Victorian vs beaux-arts. And also the ebulliance of a young city flush with money from the gold and silver mines and railroads vs a maturing city employing a renowned team of architects (Bakewell & Brown). I've never even read who designed the pre-quake city hall but the post-quake and current one was designed mainly by Arthur Brown, Jr. who, along with his partner John Bakewell, was formally trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and also had studied under Bernard Maybeck.

I don't think there's any question that from the point of view of architectural sophistication, Brown's product is much superior and the San Francisco Civic Center complex, of which it is a part, has been said to be perhaps the finest grouping of beaux-arts buildings in the US. Still, the pre-quake building is fun in its over-the-top exuberance the way rococco can be fun.

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