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Old City Hall is located on School Street. It is three stories in height,
and built of white granite. The structure is of French Second Empire design [rectangular tower with
mansard roof].
Its front is one hundred and thirty-eight feet in length,
with a projection extending fourteen and a half feet from the main line, and
fifty-one and a half feet in length. The building is ninety-five feet deep
in the wings and a hundred and nine and a half feet in the center.
The corner stone was laid December 22, 1862 with Masonic
ceremonies, and its dedication took place September 17, 1865. Gridley J. Fox
Bryant and Arthur Gilman were the architects.
The Mayor and Alderman's room was located in the second story, and was
forty feet square and twenty feet high. The Common Council Chamber was
located in the third story above the Alderman's room, and was
forty feet square and twenty-seven feet in height. The Chamber room contained galleries on three
sides, and was capable of seating two hundred and fifty persons. The original
cost of construction was about five hundred thousand dollars.
City government moved to the current City Hall
building in 1969, and Old City Hall was then completely renovated in 1970.
Unfortunately, the Mayor and Alderman's room and the Common Council Chamber
were both eliminated during this renovation to make way for office space.
A statue of Ben Franklin stands
on the west side of the front courtyard, and a statue of Mayor
Josiah Quincy stands on the east
side. Boston's Freedom
Trail passes in front of Old City Hall.
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