Boston City Hall
Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall.
| Boston City Hall | |
|---|---|
Boston City Hall in February 2012 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Brutalist |
| Location | 1 City Hall Square Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 42°21′37.16″N 71°3′28.68″W |
| Construction started | 1963 |
| Completed | 1968 |
| Inaugurated | February 10, 1969 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | |
| Structural engineer | LeMessurier Consultants |
| Other information | |
| Public transit access | Blue Line Green Line Orange Line |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
It is a controversial and prominent example of Brutalist architecture, part of the modernist movement. It was designed by the architecture firms Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles and Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty, with LeMessurier Consultants as engineers.
Together with the surrounding plaza, City Hall is part of the Government Center complex. This project constituted a major urban redesign effort in the 1960s, as Boston demolished an area of housing and businesses.
The building has been subject to widespread public condemnation, and is sometimes called one of the world's ugliest buildings. Calls for the structure to be demolished have been regularly made even before construction was finished. Architects and critics considered it to be excellent work, with one poll from 1976 finding that professional architects describe Boston City Hall as one of the ten proudest achievements of American architecture.