New York City Hall

New York City Hall is the oldest city hall in the United States that still functions in its original location and continues to house its original government offices. When construction began in eighteen hundred and three, the city government wanted a building that projected wealth and success. Architects Joseph Francois Mangin and John McComb Junior designed such an extravagant structure that the city council forced them to scale back the plans to save money. This led to a famous cost-cutting measure where the rear of the building was faced with cheap brownstone instead of expensive marble, because the architects assumed no one would ever see the back side of the building.