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Urban design ⛲ The importance of prominent city halls (People who don’t understand downtowns are destroying downtowns: The Atlantic)

Dan

Dan

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www.theatlantic.com

People Who Don’t Understand Downtowns Are Destroying Downtowns

A far-fetched plan to demolish Dallas’s seat of government is threatening the city’s role in the region.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

Some quotes:

... leaders say the monumental I. M. Pei–designed City Hall is in such bad shape that the city might be better off tearing it down and relocating the government into vacant office buildings nearby. That could create an enormous plot for the Dallas Mavericks, whose casino-company owners, the Adelson-Dumont family, want to build what Mavs CEO Rick Welts calls a “full-blown entertainment district” around their new basketball arena. One of the team’s owners, Miriam Adelson, has also been lobbying to legalize casino gambling in Texas, raising the possibility that Dallas City Hall might ultimately be razed for a casino—a perfect symbol for our era of civic impoverishment and gambling addiction.

This half-baked vision may be the nation’s worst downtown-revival strategy, and not only because it would destroy the city’s one-of-a-kind Brutalist colossus. The imagined payoff—a brand-new, suburban-style entertainment district—is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes downtowns worthy of their designation in the first place.
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The push to abandon City Hall is even more reckless. Tearing down the building would trade today’s cost of repair for the cost of demolition, and tomorrow’s maintenance for rent. It would forfeit a purpose-built structure with grounds for public protest, city-council chambers, soaring interior spaces, and a municipal garage for a few vacant floors of office space that no one else wants. It would sacrifice a symbol of the city at a time when downtown’s sense of identity is wavering, to add one more empty lot to a neighborhood that is full of them. It would destroy an irreplaceable piece of America’s cultural heritage to facilitate a real-estate project that could, by the Mavericks’ own admission, just as soon be plopped down by the side of a highway.
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I always believed that a city hall needs to be prominent in its location and architecture. The best city halls, and the best city hall locations, become symbols of their city. Consider the following;

buffalo city hall.jpg


toronto city hall.jpg


philadelphia city hall.jpg


los angeles city hall.jpg


boston city hall.jpg


I don't have to name the city where these municipal buildings are located; you just know.

Even the little suburban village where I now live has a prominent, centrally located village hall, on its main street.

kenmore village hall.jpg


I've posted rants about how some smaller towns locate their seats of government in nondescript buildings in out-of-the-way locations. They could have had a cute municipal hall in previous years. However, the powers that be thought it would be more cost-effective or efficient to group all municipal functions in a compound with the public works or fire department. This downgrade sends a strong message about municipal government and its relationship to place; there really isn't any. The building just becomes a place where you get a building permit or dog license.

shitty town hall.jpg


Like I've said before, if you would be ashamed to put the building that's your seat of government in your seal or letterhead, it's probably an awful building.

Town of Rugged Hill seal.png



Without a city hall, Dallas joins this group of small cities and towns that have no pride of place. Scattered office space throughout downtown, or metal building, it sends the same message.
 
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Yes, I love my city hall - the former post office built under I think the Presidential Act after WWI to purposefully make government buildings well designed and anchors in communities - I looked it up recently but I couldn't find the reference
 
I miss The Atlantic. At $89 a year, got to be too expensive, and our library no longer carries it. :-(

Here's my current workplace:

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And my previous workplace, which is a perfectly good building, but just looks like any other random office building anywhere:

1770851469736.png
 
Agree on the whole iconic city hall structures in city centers are great for establishing a strong sense of place. It makes a good deal of sense to do that where you have a city center (yes, even a small one). However, I think scale has to be taken into account as well. Here in BFE*, virtually every township has a township hall. The population of the township might be around 2,200 and there's no discernable 'center' to the community. Indeed, one could argue township level of government is unnecessary or superfluous (blame the Land Ordinance of 1785 if you like). A steel building or other very humble structure in this context makes perfect sense from a practical standpoint, especially when you consider how small the budgets most townships are dealing with. They should not, however, skimp on having a concrete pad outside - where else can you wash the fire trucks or set up the volunteer fire department's annual grilled chicken fundraiser?
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* townships cover 96% of land area outside of cities and there are 1,240 of them in the State of Michigan alone. Most have populations in the hundreds to low thousands.
 
I generally agree that the primary municipal building should have some architectural gravitas, but I generally disagree that it should be prominently located visually within a 'center'.

I actually prefer the small cities I've worked for/lived in that had their primary municipal building adjacent to but not 'central-ish' in the center.

My two favorites are Village of Arlington Heights, IL (a large 2nd ring Chicago suburb) and the City of Medina, OH (an edge City/County seat in the Cleveland/Akron metro).

Both are fairly nice architecturally, but don't take up primary taxable/revenue generating land within their respective downtown centers and are still accessible within the downtowns.

In Medina, OH, from a community development perspective, we/I loved having the County admin offices/workers and County court offices/workers in the downtown, but not the County court prominently facing the central square and 'consuming' about 1/4 of the 100% downtown block frontages.
 
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@NHPlanner had a good post about former employment buildings. Only one of mine I would truly call a prominent building inducing civic pride.

Intern 1997-1998 and moved to the second building.
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1998-2000 and and razed in early 2010s with new structure on same lot.
1770906509963.png

Side note: City offices were on the fourth floor with the library on 1/2 and 3rd was storage. I would park across the street to the left and enter the door under the sign. One morning, a lady in a wheelchair was pushing her way up the ramp and I asked to help her. Read me the riot act. Story continues in the 2002-2017 building.

2000-2002 county offices in historical courthouse but planning was in the back addition. Bat once dropped down from the ceiling where the counter curtain was stored.
1770906774181.png


2002-2017 (now razed) and replaced. Picking up from the side note above, my office was in the center of the photo so I had windows that looked out the the landscaping and trees (now removed:(} and I see the same lady rolling by in her wheelchair. Her look was very distinct and she had a prosthetic foot. These events occurred 560 miles apart and nearly 10 years. I did go out to talk to her and told her the story of trying to help her years ago.
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2017-2022, new city hall opened in 2025 in new city campus location.
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2022-present PW offices to leased office space
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I like mine. It's a nice building and just of the downtown main strip. The problem with mine is that the whole area is government buildings. Courts, county, city, etc. Which means there is no retail, restaurants, or other businesses.
 
Ours is about 20 years old now, and is not located in our historic Downtown.
1770922077768.png

It is however located in the geographic center of the community adjacent to a park with a small man-made lake, walking paths, and an office park on one side and the library on the other side. The location of the head of government moved around several times and the court is now located in what was an early City Hall is and Public Works occupies the space that was City Hall before this one.
 
DVD said:
View attachment 66356

I like mine. It's a nice building and just of the downtown main strip. The problem with mine is that the whole area is government buildings. Courts, county, city, etc. Which means there is no retail, restaurants, or other businesses.
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You would think businesses that cater to office workers (delis, pharmacies, etc.) would set up there. But then, the pandemic killed a lot of office districts off.
 
michaelskis said:
Ours is about 20 years old now, and is not located in our historic Downtown.
View attachment 66358
It is however located in the geographic center of the community adjacent to a park with a small man-made lake, walking paths, and an office park on one side and the library on the other side. The location of the head of government moved around several times and the court is now located in what was an early City Hall is and Public Works occupies the space that was City Hall before this one.
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Sure, it's a sprawling, imposing building located in the center of town that's constructed with white pillars in the High Federal architectural style....but apart from that how would anyone know it was an important government building?
 
Ours is a pair of 1850s-ish converted brick churches in the heart of the historic village center of the town.

1770989383279.png


Once in awhile the clerk marries people in the little green area there and they often ring the bell after. My office window used to be right next to the bell and it would sure wake you up when somebody rang it! This fall, on Halloween, it was the cutest little early 20s goth couple getting married on Halloween!

As to the buildings, they have their quirks. Heat and cooling is pretty variable and they are dusty and musty and in need of some TLC inside. Both being converted churches, they have variously ill-conceived mezzanines built inside to make them two-story. The big meeting room in the upstairs of the main building is stuffy ond only sort of ADA accessible. The upstairs in my building is not ADA accessible.
 
jumbach said:
You would think businesses that cater to office workers (delis, pharmacies, etc.) would set up there. But then, the pandemic killed a lot of office districts off.
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The problem is the whole block is occupied by the government buildings. There is a small deli across the street and a small greek restaurant. Everything else is a few blocks away. Easy walking distance, but I like the idea of commercial things interspersed with the government buildings.
 
Maister said:
Sure, it's a sprawling, imposing building located in the center of town that's constructed with white pillars in the High Federal architectural style....but apart from that how would anyone know it was an important government building?
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Because it is next to the library?
 
Faust_Motel said:
Ours is a pair of 1850s-ish converted brick churches in the heart of the historic village center of the town.

View attachment 66362

Once in awhile the clerk marries people in the little green area there and they often ring the bell after. My office window used to be right next to the bell and it would sure wake you up when somebody rang it! This fall, on Halloween, it was the cutest little early 20s goth couple getting married on Halloween!

As to the buildings, they have their quirks. Heat and cooling is pretty variable and they are dusty and musty and in need of some TLC inside. Both being converted churches, they have variously ill-conceived mezzanines built inside to make them two-story. The big meeting room in the upstairs of the main building is stuffy ond only sort of ADA accessible. The upstairs in my building is not ADA accessible.
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Nice to see reuse of historic structures. This is the Wasatch Stake Tabernacle (completed in 1889) in Heber, UT. My great great grandfather was the architect (died 1890) and his toolbox is in a nearby museum. The county took possession several years ago and is now used for some county functions.
1770992312697.png
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1770992789296.png
 
DVD said:
The problem is the whole block is occupied by the government buildings. There is a small deli across the street and a small greek restaurant. Everything else is a few blocks away. Easy walking distance, but I like the idea of commercial things interspersed with the government buildings.
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Ditto. That's the very definition of walkable neighborhoods.

My state job in South Reno was in a suburban office park of the kind found in every city, with nothing but bland beige buildings and parking lots as far as the eye could see. But at least it had a duck pond.

I would have done anything for as much as a hot dog cart for eating arrangements. (This was before DoorDash was really a thing.)

1770999233853.png
 
mendelman said:
I actually prefer the small cities I've worked for/lived in that had their primary municipal building adjacent to but not 'central-ish' in the center.
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One of the quirks of local government in New York is that a village is more like an overlay onto a town, rather than separate from it. Many town halls are in a prominent village location; not necessary central, but the busiest part of the town area. The example near me is the joint Town of Tonawanda/Village of Kenmore municipal building, located in Kenmore. The Town of Amherst has its town hall in the Village of Williamsville, at the south end of the town, steps away from Williamsville Village Hall. (In the link, there's "Village of Williamsville" banners in front of Amherst's town hall.). Same thing in Orchard Park; the Town of Orchard Park municipal building is in the Village of Orchard Park.

New York doesn't require a municipal building to be in the same municipality it serves. My last job was for a town that surrounded a city of the same name. In New York, cities are completely separate municipalities from towns. However, the geographic center of my town was the city's downtown, and that was the location of the town hall. I've had my share of offices in "annexes", and really appreciated working in a dignified municipal structure in a downtown with decent amenities and street life.
 
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