Week 15 The Building Is: The Los Angeles City Hall

The United States 20th Century Architecture
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The United States architecture showed a wide variety of architectural designs and buildings spread over the country’s development history over the four centuries of British rule and independence. The diversity of architecture in the US is as its multicultural society, which has been the core reason for the various external and internal factors defining autonomous regions centered on its rich, innovative tradition. The 20th century, especially the period between 1900 and 1960 was characterized by unique styles and textures, with many architects looking to the future and delivering projects that were innovative, optimistic and a core determinant of global trends. The designers at the time drew inspirations from the past traditional styles established in various regions. Through the unique international, modern techniques and art dйcor suited for the cosmopolitan environment and derived from the colonial styles, the twentieth-century American architecture offered something of interest to all the people. To deliver the best projects, architects and the constructors borrowed numerous elements from various periods of the country’s development. Since it is hard to assign each style to many homes, the designers conventionally referred all the stylistic models as American Eclectic. As most building designers competed to deliver the tallest buildings in the US, others worked to provide iconic and monumental structures that defined the history and later, the identity of various cities. To understand the 20th century architectural styles in the US, the essay analyses the exterior design and outlook of the Los Angeles City Hall situated in the city of Los Angeles, California.
The Los Angeles Town Hall








Figs. Images of Los Angeles City Hall
The Los Angeles City Hall is a monumental building that is located at the North Spring Street, Los Angeles City in California, USA. The building was designed by three architects; John Parkinson, Sr. Albert Martin, and John Austin. Construction started in 1926 and completed in 1928. The dedication ceremony was held on the 26th of April 1928. The inspiration behind the design of the city hall was the need to express the civic pride of Los Angeles. Mayor George E. Cryer had earlier promised to deliver a new municipal building that would be architecturally unique, showcasing the dignity and societal idealism of Los Angeles; Americas fastest growing city. However, in the 1920s, the Los Angeles laws prohibited the construction of buildings taller than twelve stories.
The aspect was overshadowed by the urge to have a new government building with an outlook perceived as the city’s primary representation when the voters authorized the construction of a $7.5 million city building in 1923. The iconic status of the building was protected by the Charter of the City of Los Angeles, which prohibited the construction of buildings with purely decorative towers and greater than 46m in height, making the building the talents iconic structure in the city between 1928 and 1964. The image of the Los Angeles Hall has been in most of the City’s displays, with the Los Angeles police badge bearing the image since 1940. Since its completion, the building has served as the City’s landmark, housing the offices of the government of the city of Los Angeles. The office of the City Mayor is located in room 300 with other government offices occupying over 500 other rooms.
Architectural Description of Los Angeles City Hall’s Exterior
From a distance, the Los Angeles City Hall is notable as an iconic and monumental building that defines the identity of the city due to its unique design. The symbolism and imagery of the Los Angeles City Hall are significantly complex for description. From the outlook, the building is made up of three distinctive sections; at the base is a broad granite glad spanning to the parapet located just above the fourth floor, a midsection spanning from the fifth to the eleventh floor with a terracotta cladding with its top roofed with a red Spanish tile, and finally a tower extending from the 11th floor to the 27th floor, rising 50 feet high also bearing a terra cotta cladding. At the twenty-seventh floor is an observation deck. At the top of the building is a stepped pyramid-like roof with terra-cotta clad as the other sections of the building.
The first and second floors of the building are made up of thick granite blocks that have been rusticated on the eastern wing, with visible doors and windows. The northern and southern wings of the building's base are made up of mixed colored ashlars granite that enclose a visible terrace from three sides, thus making up the start of the third floor. The western entrance is finished with more smoothly carved blocks than the base levels. The iconic windows that are round-headed and made up of bronze grilles smartens the entry from both sides, thus lighting up the city council chamber and other rooms on the floor. The eastern side shows the same similarity, with the monumental patterns lighting up the highly-raised spaces of the Mayor’s and city clerk’s Suites.
The mid-rise part of the building stretching from the fifth to the eleventh floors is made up of the southern and northern office wings hipped with red tiled roofs. The windows set on the Terra-coated walls are made up of simple steel casings. The terracotta skin of the section’s wall is made up of off-white rectangular blocks with a speckled appearance, precisely compatible with the granite finish of the floors below. The mid-section...