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(Photograph by Dell Upton)
Thompson and Harding’s Renaissance Revival-influenced city hall is three stories in height with a rusticated granite base and upper walls of beige brick. An imposing two-story projecting portico is carried on four stone Ionic columns, and the building has a dentiled cornice and a balustrade. Originally a tall dome covered the building, but by the 1950s the dome had deteriorated to the point of becoming a safety hazard, and it was removed in 1956, leaving only its square base. In 1983, proposals for demolition of the deteriorated city hall in favor of a new and larger structure were rejected and, instead, in recognition of the building’s historic and architectural significance, it was annexed to the fire station (1913, Charles L. Thompson) next door, which had been vacant since 1977. The fire station, also of beige brick with a facade of monumental Ionic columns that complements the city hall, is now joined to it by an inconspicuous setback hyphen, thereby preserving the facades of both buildings. Most of the fire station’s fixtures were removed for its conversion to office space for the city hall.