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About the Alexandria City Hall
Alexandria City Hall artwork courtesy of Alexandria artist Todd Healy.
Alexandria City Hall
301 King Street
Alexandria City Hall was erected on the site designated for the
market and city hall when Alexandria was founded in 1749. The
tall, steepled tower, which contrasts with the building's Second
Empire-style massing and detailing, is a reconstruction of a
tower designed by Benjamin H. Latrobe that
was part of Alexandria's 1817 town hall. That hall burned in
1871, necessitating construction of the current building,
designed by Adolph Cluss, a locally prominent architect who had
designed the U.S. Department of Agriculture building in 1869 and
Washington's Central Market in 1870. The new City Hall was
U-shaped around a central courtyard. Originally, City Hall also
housed the Masonic Lodge, court facility, and police and fire
stations. Markets Stalls were located on the first floors of
the west and north wings and in the courtyard. Today, only City
offices remain. On the southern half of the City Hall block is a
plaza completed in 1967. Through the years, the City Hall
building has undergone several interior and exterior alterations.
In the late 1940s, some interior renovation took place. In
1960-61, an addition was built on City Hall, filling in the old
courtyard. The building was reoriented toward the south with
the new entrance facing King Street and Market Square, an open,
landscape plaza with central fountain, completed in 1967 as part
of the Gadsby Commercial Urban Renewal Project. Beginning in
1981, the building was renovated to link the 1871 building and
the 1961 addition with new elevators, stairs and corridors. The
current City Hall building houses many of the City government
offices, including the second floor City Council Chambers.
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