Philadelphia City Hall is the largest city building in the United States.
It is a grand work of architecture. It was completed in 1901. William Penn actually laid out the building's spot 200 years before it was built.
It stands 548 feet tall and has 14.5 acres of floor space.
There are more than 700 rooms in the building.
It took 30 years to build at a cost of nearly $25 million. It is constructed of brick, granite and marble. There is no steel or iron framing. The walls at the first floor are up to 22ft thick to support all the weight from the floors above.
The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur, Jr., in the Second Empire style.
Alexander Milne Calder sculpted the William Penn statue on top. He and his son also sculpted more than 250 figures on and in the building.
Rooms are organized around a central courtyard, which can be reached via the large archways on each of the four sides.
Marble columns and more of the sculptures branch off the large archways leading to the courtyard.
There are sculptures of people and animals of the world, educators, artists and engineers out of stone that the sculptor said were created “to express American ideals and develop American genius.” Hmmm...babies holding up the building watched over by an elephant.
The interior courtyard feels like a French Palace. The large turrets emphasize this to me.
The central courtyard has nice landscaping and would be a great place to sit and enjoy but it is very busy. City business is ongoing as well as tourists visiting.
City Hall is topped by a 37-foot-high bronze statue of William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia.
Views outside the archways lead right into the city. We spent some time walking down those busy, narrow streets.
This elegant 1865 building is home to the Union League of Philadelphia. The Union League of Philadelphia, founded in 1862 as a Patriotic Society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln, is today a private members-only club.
We found that Philadelphia does not seem like your normal touristy city. No T-Shirt gift shops, souvenir shops, or restaurant after restaurant. It took many blocks of walking to find a real Philly Cheesesteak. But, when we did they were darn tasty.
A passing glimpse of Philadelphia's massive Museum of Art brought this day in Philadelphia to a close.
