Buffalo Town Hall

The building was built by the John W. Cowper Company, the same firm that built the Statler Hotel and City Sports Club, also on Niagara Square. The construction cost was $ 6,851,546.85, including the contributions of the architect, making it one of the most expensive city hall buildings in the USA .

On September 16, 1929, the land for the construction was prepared, and the cornerstone was laid on May 14, 1930. Construction was completed on November 10, 1931, although the entrance of the city administration began in September of that year. Previously, the administration was located in the old city hall, as it is now called, which was built in 1875 ..

In the summer of 2009, the south wing of the building was reconstructed.

The City Hall was the tallest (115.2 m.) Buffalo building until 1970. Its total area is 52,612.2 m2. m2). An interesting feature is that all windows open inward, which facilitates the procedure for washing them. It takes about ten days to wash them all. There are 12 elevators in the building: eight on the 13th floor, and four on the 25th. Buffalo City Hall is also one of several buildings in the US that still operate lifts.

The building has 5,000 electrical outlets, 5,400 electrical switches and 21 ventilation machines, 177 km. copper wire weighing 43 tons and 75.5 km. or 180 tons of pipeline.

The City Hall was originally equipped with 375 telephones and a main switchboard. Outdoor lighting worked around the clock through 369 floodlights.

The city hall was designed and built with an air conditioning system that uses strong winds from Lake Erie . Large gates were placed on the west side of the building. These valves sent incoming air underground for cooling. After that, he entered through the air conditioning system on all floors. The wind from the lake is usually strong enough to power this system.

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