Photos of the Week – Philadelphia City Hall

A couple of summers ago, my husband and I spent a quick weekend in Philadelphia for a wedding. I had never been to Philadelphia before, and was determined to cram as much as I could into the one full day we were there.

I loved walking around looking at all the architecture in the city, and one of the places that caught my eye was Philadelphia City Hall.

Philadelphia City Hall was constructed between 1871 and 1901. It is the seat of government for Philadelphia, and the largest municipal building in America.

The hall is topped with a 37-foot statue of William Penn. From 1894 until 1986, the hall was the tallest building in Philadelphia per a gentleman’s agreement that other buildings would not be constructed above the height of statue William Penn’s hat.

“Hi, William Penn!” *waves*

The building’s architecture was considered out of date by the time it opened, and in the 1950s the city considered tearing it down. However, they discovered that the project to remove the building would cost around $25 million due to the heavy masonry structure, with all its bricks and stone.