City Hall - City Hall is New York, the oldest in the United States. The building looks tiny in comparison with the surrounding skyscrapers, but it is elegant, smart and quite worthy of the great city.

Compared with the town halls of other major cities in the world City Hall - building: a building just two centuries. Of course, even before his appearance the city government did not live on the street. In the XVII century the first city hall at this Pearl Street built more Dutch. In 1700 he moved to City Hall on Wall Street, but the building now known as the Federal Hall, was transferred to the federal government after the war for independence. Then the city council chose the site for construction of a new administrative building on the northern edge of the city. The competition winning design architect John McComb and engineer Joseph Francois Mendzhin - they got a first prize of $ 350.

Completed in 1812, City Hall in the style of French Renaissance turned out beautiful and at that time large enough: it fit the offices of the mayor and municipal employees, halls for official receptions and meetings of the City Council. In the sad moments of American history the building has played a more solemn and ceremonial role: in 1865, it hosted a farewell Americans killed President Abraham Lincoln, here in the rotunda in 1877 was the coffin of the great commander Ulysses S. Grant.

During the two centuries of its existence, the building was rebuilt several times, but his appearance - the central pavilion, two wings, domed tower in the center - remained unchanged. The interiors of the City Hall with a grand marble staircase and Corinthian columns are magnificent. Hall has a decent collection of 108 paintings from the end of XVIII - XX centuries, including several masterpieces (such as brushes John Trumbull).

Official receptions are held in the governor's office, where he had been a lot of celebrities, including the hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Albert Einstein. However, city officials, of which there are many nowadays, place in the City Hall is no longer able. For them in 1914 it was built near the Manhattan Municipal Building, one of the largest office buildings in the world.

At the beginning of the XXI century City Hall surrounded by perimeter security. The reason was a skirmish on the balcony of the building - it committed the two municipal deputies, passed in the City Hall, bypassing the metal detector. It was then that Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered tougher security policy.

However, this policy does not apply to the surrounding area. City Hall framed by flower-filled parks, lawns which clerks eat your lunch, and the townspeople just relax. Twice a week there is a market: farmers bring vegetables and fruit, milk, honey, freshly baked bread.