1884 Schell / Harpers View of Philadelphia City Hall

A beautifully colored 1884 view of Philadelphia City Hall by the artist Frederic B. Schell that appeared in Harper's Weekly. When published, the building's central tower had not yet been completed and it would not be fully opened until 1901. Still, the images capture the massive ambitions of the building, which took thirty years to build and held multiple records when it was completed (and retains several today).

A Closer Look

The sheet includes six illustrations: a central depiction of the City Hall structure as it would appear when completed and five additional views. The main view demonstrates how the structure absolutely dominated over other buildings of the Philadelphia skyline.

The inset at top-left depicts the building's Western Dome, with human figures to highlight the size of the dome. Moving clockwise, illustrations include the building's courtyard, a statue of John Fulton Reynolds, a Pennsylvania native and Union general killed at Gettysburg, at the building's entrance, a view of city hall and the Pennsylvania Railroad from West Philadelphia, and a view of the building looking down Broad St.

The verso includes a description of the building, praise for its design and ambitions, but also a critique of the plans for the central tower, which the Harper's writers saw as gaudy.

A Structure for the Ages

When constructed, Philadelphia's City Hall was the tallest habitable building and the tallest secular structure in the world, included the world's tallest clocktower, and was the largest public building in the U.S. It remains the largest free-standing masonry building in the world and the largest municipal building in the U.S. today. The thirty-seven-foot-tall statue of William Penn that crowns the building's tower is still the largest statue atop a building in the world. Needless to say, such grand ambitions were not easily realized, and it took tens of millions of dollars and thirty years to fully construct and furnish the building and its hundreds of rooms.

Publication History and Census

This sheet was drawn by Frederic B. Schell and appeared in Harper's Weekly on July 5, 1884. It is not known to be independently cataloged among the holdings of any institution, while Harper's Weekly is generally available at major research institutions. Hand-colored Harper's prints are scarce to the market.