The Houston City Building building is the headquarters of the city government of Houston. Built in 1938 and 1939, the Town Hall complex is located on Bagby Street on the west side of Downtown Houston. Surrounded by the Houston Skyline District and similar in design to dozens of other city halls built in the southwest United States during the same time period. Town Hall is flanked by Tranquility Park and the Houston Public Library. The simple designed structure displays many construction details that have helped make this building a classic architecture.
Video Houston City Hall
Histori
From 1841 to 1939, the Houston city government was based in Old Market Square. It was destroyed by fire in the 1870s, and also in 1901, and rebuilt every time. In those days, the Town Hall was part of the bustling commercial atmosphere of Square. However, in the 1920s, city leaders decided the site no longer fit their needs.
In 1929, the city planning commission urged the establishment of a civilian center around the city center park, Herman Square. However, the Great Depression ruled out plans for a new center. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted the Job Prospect Administration program, the city applied for a WPA grant to help finance the construction of the new City Hall. The grant was approved, and construction began in March 1938, continuing for 20 months.
Joseph Finger has designed a city hall building with a stripped classic style. He wanted to place front porch statues of John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, but the City of Houston did not have the funds needed to add the statues. The statues will cost $ 8,000 and the city is still suffering from the Great Depression. The Texas Star Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) found this fact from reading the November 1939 article from Scripps Howard Houston Press and published it in 2010. The sculpture project was dropped by Chapter DRT and Oran M. Roberts Chapter 440, UDC, stepped in and raised funds to allow Allen Brothers statues to be deposited and thrown in bronze.
On July 15, 2008, the world-renowned surgeon Dr. Michael E. Debakey lay quietly in Houston City Hall after he died on the previous Friday for natural causes, the first honor for the city's dead.
Maps Houston City Hall
Usage
The mayor of Houston and City Controller have their offices in this building. Members of the Council immediately took office across the street at the Annex City Hall building. Tuesday at 1:30 pm, and Wednesday at 09:00, the Houston City Council meets in the room. All meetings are open to the public.
Starting in October 2013, 12,000 square feet of space on the west side of the first floor has been renovated for use by HTV Houston Television (studio HTV). The renovation is overseen by Balfour Beatty Construction and completed on March 14, 2014.
Architecture details
The Town Hall architect is Joseph Finger, an Austrian-born Texan architect responsible for a number of landmarks in the Houston area.
The design on the lobby floor describes the protective role of government. In the grill above the main entrance is a medal from the great "lawgiver" from ancient times to the American establishment, including Thomas Jefferson, Charlemagne, Julius Caesar and Moses, and the out of date city seal adorned the interior door handle.
The building is faced with Texas Cordova limestone, and the doors to the building are of special cast aluminum. Walled-in marble lobby. The gateway to the Tax Department is lined with bronze, nickel and silver. The lift lobby is maintained with basic marble, walls and wainscoting.
Above the lobby door is a stone statue depicting two men defusing a wild horse, meant to symbolize a community that came together to form a government to tame the world around them. The cast for this statue, and twenty-seven prints for the friezes around the building, was performed by Beaumont Herring Coe artist and co-designer Raoul Josset.
Hermann Square
The front of the town hall building descends into a small park, George and Martha Hermann Square, which is dominated by a reflection pool. This was at one time a homestead of George H. Hermann, who was named Hermann Park in the Museum District. Hermann Square contains a simple but elegant grace and is often used for festivals, protests, and concerts. To accommodate larger events, a reflection pond is installed and tents and kiosks are often erected.
Although there is some speculation as to whether or not people are allowed to stay in the park excessively, officially the Department of Parks says that people are not allowed to sleep there. The city prosecutor's office declared in the 1987 Houston Chronicle that the police would not arrest anyone sleeping in the park.
References
External links
- Houston City Hall at CityMayors.com
- A collection of historic photographs of Houston, nearby communities, and more can be found at the University of Houston Digital Library
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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