Schenectady City Hall and Post Office | |
 East elevation, 2008 | |
| Location | Schenectady,NY |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°48′50″N73°56′21″W / 42.81389°N 73.93917°W /42.81389; -73.93917 |
| Area | 2.3 acres (0.93 ha) |
| Built | 1931 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead and White; Taylor, James Knox |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Other, Neo-Colonial;Neo-Adamesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 78001908[1] |
Schenectady City Hall is theseat of government of the city ofSchenectady, New York, United States. Designed byMcKim, Mead, and White, the building was constructed between 1931 and 1933.[2] It is located on the block between Clinton, Franklin, Jay and Liberty streets. It is built in a revival of theFederal Style, the dominant style ofAmerican architecture from 1780 to 1830.[2] Its most prominent features include the squareclock tower, with its gold-leafdome andweathervane, and theIonicneoclassicalportico.
Theclassically inspired architecture echoes the arched windows on the nearbypost office, built two decades earlier.[3] Both were listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1978; the post office was later listed separately as part of a statewide submission of post offices.
City Hall is a2+1⁄2-story brick building with a full-height centralportico on the front and a semicircular projecting wing on the rear enclosing arotunda. Its lowdormer window-piercedhipped roof is topped with aclock tower andcupola with golden dome.Balustrades mark the roofline; on the front portico apedimentedentablature is supported by fourflutedIonic columns.Marble is used forpilasters,quoins and therusticated raised basement.[3]
Marble is also used extensively inside the building for stairs, flooring andwainscoting. Other decorative touches include the city'sseal on brass doorknobs and intricatelymolded plastercornices.[3]
When the decision was made to build a new city hall in the late 1920s, due to the city's rapid growth since the 1880s, the city held a nationwide contest, which was won by the prominentNew York City architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White (MMW). The exorbitant cost of the project, which was undertaken during theGreat Depression, caused the building to be dubbed "Fagal's Folly" after Mayor Henry C. Fagal.[4] Their building went further in evoking the historical antecedents ofColonial buildings than mostColonial Revival buildings of the era, with enoughneoclassical elements including a cupola styled after those on the buildings ofChristopher Wren, that the building's style has been described as "neo-Georgian or neo-Federal".[3]
At thecornerstone-laying ceremony, James McKellum Smith of MMW said the city government "recognize[s] that they are now erecting a building which may still be the center of civic life in the Schenectady of 100 years from today".[3] Construction was completed in 1933.[5] The building's interior layout has not been changed since then.
It was added to theNational Register of Historic Places on October 11, 1978.[1] Shortly afterwards a fire damaged the cupola. It was recently repaired.
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