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At 555 feet, the Washington Monument in D.C. is taller. What is the basis for the claim that Philadelphia City Hall is the tallest masonry building in the world?
I'm comfortable calling the Monument a structure, NOT a building, since its not really "occupied" for any reason other than to visit, much like an observation/communications tower, but not sure how others see that.
Also, it isn't clear to me after all these years (I grew up in Phila) whether the cited 548 ft is to the top of the Penn statue, or to the top of the masonry structure itself? Redneb 17:06, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
This National Park Service site http://www.nps.gov/wamo/history/chap5.htm says that, while the walls of the monument are masonry, the internal structure (stairs, landings, elevator system, etc.) is ironwork. BillFlis 22:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Good information that helps, but wouldn't this ALSO apply to the City Hall Tower? (there is an elevator, and I presume stairs, to the observation deck at the top). I guess I'd qualify the statement/claim by adding "tallest habited"?? Redneb 23:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
I doubt the elevator shaft in either City Hall or the Washington Monument is a load-bearing element, but I'm no building engineer. From the Skyscraper article, "...Philadelphia's City Hall, completed in 1901, is the world's tallest load-bearing masonry structure - a title to which it still holds claim." RockinRob Talk 01:06, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
www.gophila.com/.../211/Philadelphia_CultureFiles/210/Historic_Attractions/12/U/City_Hall/1214.html calls this hall the tallest masonry structure without a steel frame.
Isn't the Mole Antonelliana in Turin as tall as the Philadelphia city hall but completed before it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.161.102.236 ( talk) 21:46, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
Additionally, the top 47m of the Mole Antonelliana are no longer purely masonry -- they were destroyed in a tornado and replaced with a metal structure covered in stone, apparently. So I'd say Philadelphia City Hall is back on top. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.42.136.254 ( talk) 19:36, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Philadelphia claims that it is world's tallest masonry building. Someone should resolve the inconsistency at least. 71.175.125.117 ( talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:30, 1 February 2010 (UTC).
The comment about PHL City Hall maybe being the largest municipal building in the world can definitely be removed. I'm pretty sure the Tokyo City Hall is larger. It's a full city block and 799 feet tall. -th —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.123.62.17 ( talk • contribs)
current text | With close to 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States and one of the largest in the World. |
proposed text | With close to 700 rooms, City Hall is one of the largest municipal buildings in the World. |
Philadelphia City Hall has a floor area of 630,000 sqft. Tokyo City Hall is only listed as ~250,000 sqft. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.99.208.16 ( talk) 00:58, 20 October 2009 (UTC)
The number of rooms is relatively meaningless compared to square meters or square feet of total floor space. I note that the Wikipedia article about Los Angeles City Hall states that it has 79,510 sq meters (855,800 sq ft) of floor space, while the Wikipedia article about Philadelphia City Hall states that it has 58,222 sq meters (630,000 sq ft) of floor space. Philadelphia City Hall is obviously, on that basis alone, not the world's largest municipal building. (I have no idea which building is the largest -- I only state that Philadelphia's claim, though it may once have been true, no longer is.) Toddabearsf ( talk) 10:45, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
The section headings were added in the course of adding more info and i was a bit surprised to find them gone this a.m. Since i don't like adding to articles that my work is being removed from, at least without some discussion, i guess i'm done here. Carptrash 14:25, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
My apologies. I should have been more patient. I originally thought that they were a vandalism. I ask for you to reconsider and participate. I am sorry.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jlivewell ( talk • contribs) 10:58, 8 November 2006
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 03:24, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
The left side of the top of the page was blank because both infoboxes were linked. I un-linked the second infobox and moved it down, so that text would flow to the top of the page (which it did nicely), and inserted several photos (close up of the northeast section of the architecture) and (base of city hall showing start of Mummers Day parade). To un-do the two quotes and get the two nice TEXT QUOTES using
“ | text | ” |
I had to move the tall photo down in that section and move a wider one up, so the two quotes look kinda pretty now...
The only comment I would make at this time, is that postcard-copied picture of City Hall looks sort of jaundiced.... Has anyone thought of replacing it with something nicer? Wikited ( talk) 18:32, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
Regarding the yellowish post card picture of City Hall.... I was able to find a pix of Philadelphia City Hall at the Library Congress and inserted it into the infobox in place of the post card picture. (Click on the picture to see the credits.)
I think this pix is better since it clearly shows the entire building and the effect of its architecture. Wikited ( talk) 01:40, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
We need to do some work on the images on the page. There are too many bunched to the left, and the Tallest Building's infobox picture is of terrible quality. Just wanted to get a bit of a consensus before I went through removing images and either looking for more or going to take some myself... nf utvol ( talk) 16:27, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
"At 167 m (548 ft), including the statue, it is the world's second tallest
masonry building after the
Washington Monument""
If Mole Antonelliana is taller than Philadelphia City Hall, and was finished 12 years earlier, and is still standing, how did Philadelphia City Hall get to be the World's Tallest Building? jnestorius( talk) 23:07, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
I find this section to be poorly written and confusing....
Yet another version for why the statue pointed generally north instead of south is that it was the current (1894) architect's method of showing displeasure with the style of the work; that by 1894 it was not in the current, popular Beaux-Arts style; that it was out of date even before it was placed on top of the building.[citation needed]
Perhaps something along these lines might be more clear:
It is also said that the statue pointed northeast to reflect McArthur's displeasure with the statue itself which did not fit the architectural style of the building and did not appeal to McArthur's Beaux-Arts design aesthetic. [citation needed]
Also, the design section could be improved with more direct references to the architecture section of the Philadelphia's City Hall History Page.
Edit-editor-editing ( talk) 13:29, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
A well-known anecdote among Philadelphians relates that City Hall is actually 547' 11-3/4" tall from street level to the top of the hat of the statue of William Penn. The joke goes, "What happened to the other quarter inch?", as a poke at then-widespread corruption in Philadelphia city government and the building trades at the time of construction. Bill S. ( talk) 01:12, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
"City Hall was the tallest habitable building in the world from 1894 to 1908, measuring 548 ft (167 m) to the top of the statue of William Penn." Doing a quick search reveals that this is a repeatedly quoted factoid, but I have yet to find an originating source. In that same search I found links to http://openbuildings.com/buildings/philadelphia-city-hall-profile-6716?_show_description=1 and http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/280148 that list the year as 1901, which makes sense seeing as that was the year it was completed. The year in this notable fact should change. Dzampino ( talk) 18:29, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
The classic 1952 comic book story Statuesque Spendthrifts by Carl Barks pokes fun at the statue of city founder Penn and the hat agreement. 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:480D:3E90:8808:14DE ( talk) 13:41, 19 November 2021 (UTC)
More and more photos have been added to this article over the last several years, giving it an increasingly cluttered look that makes it difficult to read, particularly for people with visual impairments. Several of these image additions appear to violate Wikipedia's Manual of Style/Accessibility standards which urge editors to "Avoid placing images on the left hand side as a consistent left hand margin makes reading easier" and "Avoid sandwiching text between two images or, unless absolutely necessary, using fixed image sizes." At this point, several images need to be removed or repositioned to the image gallery in order to bring the article back into compliance with the MOS and make it more accessible for Wikipedia users with visual impairments. - 47thPennVols ( talk) 03:16, 21 March 2023 (UTC)
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At 555 feet, the Washington Monument in D.C. is taller. What is the basis for the claim that Philadelphia City Hall is the tallest masonry building in the world?
I'm comfortable calling the Monument a structure, NOT a building, since its not really "occupied" for any reason other than to visit, much like an observation/communications tower, but not sure how others see that.
Also, it isn't clear to me after all these years (I grew up in Phila) whether the cited 548 ft is to the top of the Penn statue, or to the top of the masonry structure itself? Redneb 17:06, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
This National Park Service site http://www.nps.gov/wamo/history/chap5.htm says that, while the walls of the monument are masonry, the internal structure (stairs, landings, elevator system, etc.) is ironwork. BillFlis 22:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Good information that helps, but wouldn't this ALSO apply to the City Hall Tower? (there is an elevator, and I presume stairs, to the observation deck at the top). I guess I'd qualify the statement/claim by adding "tallest habited"?? Redneb 23:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
I doubt the elevator shaft in either City Hall or the Washington Monument is a load-bearing element, but I'm no building engineer. From the Skyscraper article, "...Philadelphia's City Hall, completed in 1901, is the world's tallest load-bearing masonry structure - a title to which it still holds claim." RockinRob Talk 01:06, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
www.gophila.com/.../211/Philadelphia_CultureFiles/210/Historic_Attractions/12/U/City_Hall/1214.html calls this hall the tallest masonry structure without a steel frame.
Isn't the Mole Antonelliana in Turin as tall as the Philadelphia city hall but completed before it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.161.102.236 ( talk) 21:46, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
Additionally, the top 47m of the Mole Antonelliana are no longer purely masonry -- they were destroyed in a tornado and replaced with a metal structure covered in stone, apparently. So I'd say Philadelphia City Hall is back on top. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.42.136.254 ( talk) 19:36, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Philadelphia claims that it is world's tallest masonry building. Someone should resolve the inconsistency at least. 71.175.125.117 ( talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:30, 1 February 2010 (UTC).
The comment about PHL City Hall maybe being the largest municipal building in the world can definitely be removed. I'm pretty sure the Tokyo City Hall is larger. It's a full city block and 799 feet tall. -th —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.123.62.17 ( talk • contribs)
current text | With close to 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States and one of the largest in the World. |
proposed text | With close to 700 rooms, City Hall is one of the largest municipal buildings in the World. |
Philadelphia City Hall has a floor area of 630,000 sqft. Tokyo City Hall is only listed as ~250,000 sqft. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.99.208.16 ( talk) 00:58, 20 October 2009 (UTC)
The number of rooms is relatively meaningless compared to square meters or square feet of total floor space. I note that the Wikipedia article about Los Angeles City Hall states that it has 79,510 sq meters (855,800 sq ft) of floor space, while the Wikipedia article about Philadelphia City Hall states that it has 58,222 sq meters (630,000 sq ft) of floor space. Philadelphia City Hall is obviously, on that basis alone, not the world's largest municipal building. (I have no idea which building is the largest -- I only state that Philadelphia's claim, though it may once have been true, no longer is.) Toddabearsf ( talk) 10:45, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
The section headings were added in the course of adding more info and i was a bit surprised to find them gone this a.m. Since i don't like adding to articles that my work is being removed from, at least without some discussion, i guess i'm done here. Carptrash 14:25, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
My apologies. I should have been more patient. I originally thought that they were a vandalism. I ask for you to reconsider and participate. I am sorry.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jlivewell ( talk • contribs) 10:58, 8 November 2006
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 03:24, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
The left side of the top of the page was blank because both infoboxes were linked. I un-linked the second infobox and moved it down, so that text would flow to the top of the page (which it did nicely), and inserted several photos (close up of the northeast section of the architecture) and (base of city hall showing start of Mummers Day parade). To un-do the two quotes and get the two nice TEXT QUOTES using
“ | text | ” |
I had to move the tall photo down in that section and move a wider one up, so the two quotes look kinda pretty now...
The only comment I would make at this time, is that postcard-copied picture of City Hall looks sort of jaundiced.... Has anyone thought of replacing it with something nicer? Wikited ( talk) 18:32, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
Regarding the yellowish post card picture of City Hall.... I was able to find a pix of Philadelphia City Hall at the Library Congress and inserted it into the infobox in place of the post card picture. (Click on the picture to see the credits.)
I think this pix is better since it clearly shows the entire building and the effect of its architecture. Wikited ( talk) 01:40, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
We need to do some work on the images on the page. There are too many bunched to the left, and the Tallest Building's infobox picture is of terrible quality. Just wanted to get a bit of a consensus before I went through removing images and either looking for more or going to take some myself... nf utvol ( talk) 16:27, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
"At 167 m (548 ft), including the statue, it is the world's second tallest
masonry building after the
Washington Monument""
If Mole Antonelliana is taller than Philadelphia City Hall, and was finished 12 years earlier, and is still standing, how did Philadelphia City Hall get to be the World's Tallest Building? jnestorius( talk) 23:07, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
I find this section to be poorly written and confusing....
Yet another version for why the statue pointed generally north instead of south is that it was the current (1894) architect's method of showing displeasure with the style of the work; that by 1894 it was not in the current, popular Beaux-Arts style; that it was out of date even before it was placed on top of the building.[citation needed]
Perhaps something along these lines might be more clear:
It is also said that the statue pointed northeast to reflect McArthur's displeasure with the statue itself which did not fit the architectural style of the building and did not appeal to McArthur's Beaux-Arts design aesthetic. [citation needed]
Also, the design section could be improved with more direct references to the architecture section of the Philadelphia's City Hall History Page.
Edit-editor-editing ( talk) 13:29, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
A well-known anecdote among Philadelphians relates that City Hall is actually 547' 11-3/4" tall from street level to the top of the hat of the statue of William Penn. The joke goes, "What happened to the other quarter inch?", as a poke at then-widespread corruption in Philadelphia city government and the building trades at the time of construction. Bill S. ( talk) 01:12, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
"City Hall was the tallest habitable building in the world from 1894 to 1908, measuring 548 ft (167 m) to the top of the statue of William Penn." Doing a quick search reveals that this is a repeatedly quoted factoid, but I have yet to find an originating source. In that same search I found links to http://openbuildings.com/buildings/philadelphia-city-hall-profile-6716?_show_description=1 and http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/280148 that list the year as 1901, which makes sense seeing as that was the year it was completed. The year in this notable fact should change. Dzampino ( talk) 18:29, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
The classic 1952 comic book story Statuesque Spendthrifts by Carl Barks pokes fun at the statue of city founder Penn and the hat agreement. 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:480D:3E90:8808:14DE ( talk) 13:41, 19 November 2021 (UTC)
More and more photos have been added to this article over the last several years, giving it an increasingly cluttered look that makes it difficult to read, particularly for people with visual impairments. Several of these image additions appear to violate Wikipedia's Manual of Style/Accessibility standards which urge editors to "Avoid placing images on the left hand side as a consistent left hand margin makes reading easier" and "Avoid sandwiching text between two images or, unless absolutely necessary, using fixed image sizes." At this point, several images need to be removed or repositioned to the image gallery in order to bring the article back into compliance with the MOS and make it more accessible for Wikipedia users with visual impairments. - 47thPennVols ( talk) 03:16, 21 March 2023 (UTC)