Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At 548 ft (167 m), including the statue of city founder William Penn atop it, it is the world's tallest masonry building, since the collapse of the pinnacle of the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, and its consequent rebuilding as a metal structure faced with stone. The weight of the building is borne by granite and brick walls up to 22 feet (6.7 m) thick, rather than steel; the principal exterior materials are limestone, granite, and marble.
It was the tallest habitable building in the world from 1901 to 1908 and the tallest in Pennsylvania until 1932 when surpassed by the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh. It remained the tallest building in Philadelphia until the construction of One Liberty Place (1984–1987) ended the informal gentlemen's agreement that limited the height of tall buildings in the city; it is currently the 16th-tallest building in Pennsylvania.
Famous quotes containing the words philadelphia, city and/or hall:
“All the oxygen of the world was in them.
All the feet of the babies of the world were in them.
All the crotches of the angels of the world were in them.
All the morning kisses of Philadelphia were in them.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“It is said the city was spared a golden-oak period because its residents, lacking money to buy the popular atrocities of the nineties, necessarily clung to their rosewood and mahogany.”
—Administration in the State of Sout, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“I was afraid the waking arm would break
From the loose earth and rub against his eyes
A fist of trees, and the whole country tremble
In the exultant labor of his rise;”
—Donald Hall (b. 1928)