Birmingham City Hall

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For earlier city halls, see Birmingham City Hall (disambiguation)
Birmingham City Hall from Linn Park. January 2007

The Birmingham City Hall is the primary governmental office building for the city of Birmingham. The 12-story modern-style building faces Linn Park from across 20th Street North, on Block 20 between Park Place and 8th Avenue North.

The project for a new City Hall was led by then-Birmingham City Commission president Cooper Green. The choice of whether to rebuild on the same 4th Avenue North site as the 1901 Birmingham City Hall or to move city government to the "Municipal Plaza" was made the subject of a November 7, 1944 referendum. Shortly after the issue passed, the city acquired the land for $468,863. The old YWCA Building and several other frame structures were demolished in 1946 and 1947.

The building was completed in 1950 for a total cost of $3,850,000, including the land purchase, construction, furnishings, equipment and landscaping. A "postwar construction fund" with $1,540,000 generated from the city's tax on cigarettes provided most of the money, along with a $1,150,000 surplus from the general fund and another $701,500 from the sale of the old city hall site. Those sources allowed the city to fully pay for the new building before it was occupied without issuing new bonds or levying new taxes.

The building was designed by Charles McCauley and his associates Charles Snook Jr and Robert Adams. It complements the 1932 Jefferson County Courthouse opposite the park, in a more up-to-date style accented by contrasting vertical bands of limestone and granite. The building's interior design was informed by the work of "color technician" Norman Jordan who chose colored marble and pastel-tinted plaster for the corridors and lobbies, and dark walnut paneling and similar rich colors for offices. Light gray trim and furnishings were used liberally throughout the building.

The building was designed to accommodate future growth by raising the height of the north and south wings. The foundations and utilities were designed for the additional load and an extra elevator shaft was provided for future demand.

The foundation contract was awarded to J. F. Holley in 1947. The Virginia Bridge Company submitted the lowest bid for the steel frame in December of that year. The J. A. Jones Construction Co. of Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta was awarded the general construction contract on December 20, 1949, and subsequently opened a Birmingham office headed by superintendent Glenn McIntosh. McCauley engineer Frank Flinn and field superintendent A. A. Cordill provided construction supervision.

Mayor Cooper Green had requested that the building "rise from the soil and be made of the soil of Birmingham and Alabama," and that request was largely fulfilled. Nearly all the materials were either made in Alabama or obtained through local firms. The Virginia Bridge Company fabricated the structural steel from ingots produced by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company. The walls were constructed of structural clay tiles from the National Fireproofing Co. in Collegeville. The building's base was clad in Georgia granite while the upper walls were covered in Limestone from Russelville. The building also used white Alabama marble from Gantt's quarry in Sylacauga and green accent marble and black granite quarried out of state but supplied by the Alabama Marble Company. The Hahn Roofing Company installed the roofing. The rubber tile flooring was made in Tuscumbia and the aluminum used in the windows was manufactured at Listerhill in Colbert County. Shook & Fletcher Supply Co. furnished and installed the heating and air-conditioning. Likewise, all labor for construction of the City Hall was furnished through the Birmingham Building Trades Council.

The "Design for Progress" model of Birmingham was converted into an interactive exhibit for City Hall's lobby in the 1970s, with push-buttons around the perimeter activating small indicator lights at the locations of various landmarks and attractions.

Between 2009 and early 2011 work was completed to remove the entrance steps on the West 20th Street side of the building and replace them with new accessible entrances at street level. Previously persons using wheelchairs had to use the annex entrance, which was usually locked.

A cafeteria in the basement of City Hall, formerly called a "Snack Bar", has been operated since 2022 by Tremayne and Karen Thompson as the "Perfect Note Express". In April 2023 the Council approved another renovation of the finishes, seating, sound and lighting in its chambers. The project, was awarded to Sherrod Construction with a $296,000 bid. The work took longer than expected and the cost increased to around $500,000 before the council resumed use of the space in January 2024.

Cornerstone

The building's cornerstone was fabricated by ACIPCO as a gift to the city, and was laid at an August 3, 1950 dedication ceremony, shortly before the project was completed. Governor Jim Folsom, Sr attended, and statements were given by Francis McCormack of St Anthony's Catholic Church, Abraham Mesch of Temple Beth-El, and John Goodgame Jr of 6th Avenue Baptist Church. David A. Lawrence, the Mayor of Pittsburgh and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, gave the dedication address. Hill Ferguson of the Birmingham Historical Society placed the cornerstone time capsule, to be opened in 2050.

Cornerstones from at least six previous City Halls, including Ensley's and Woodlawn's, and one from the old Jefferson County Courthouse, were sought for placement into a retaining wall on the northeast corner of the building. Ultimately only two were gathered, and they were incorporated into a loose sculpture outside the building's south entrance.

Council chambers

The council chamber (so called even though it originally was used by the Birmingham City Commission) was paneled in fine-grained Walnut, emblazoned with the words "Cities are what men make them," in 12-inch high aluminum block letters. Architect Charles McCauley had visited Mayor Cooper Green at his office to discuss his desire to find a slogan, "something short but punchy, something that would make men think," to post in the chamber. While there he spotted a poem, elsewhere attributed to Daniel D. Lovelace, which Green had clipped out of a magazine and displayed under the glass top of his desk.

In 1980 Councilor Jeff Germany proposed changing the slogan to read "Cities are what people make them" or "Cities are what we make them". A sign company provided an estimate of $4,000 to replace the letters, and the issue was considered "silly" by the council's only female members, Nina Miglionico and Bessie Estelle. (Birmingham Post-Herald-1980) Three years later Councilor John Katopodis proposed having the line changed to "Cities are what we make them," at minimal expense by having the "M" turned upside-down and removing the "N". Eddie Blankenship observed that the change could suggest that the "WE" referred to the council instead of the people, but Katopodis countered that they could make the small change immediately and the bigger change later. Council President David Herring accepted the suggestion. Once the slogan was altered, Katopodis had the foot-tall 'N' mounted onto a plaque and presented to Miglionico. (Kianoff-1983)

In a later renovation, the slogan was replaced with a quote from William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, "The people are the city." (Act III, Scene i).

The Council chambers were refitted in November 2005 in order to accommodate the needs of then-newly-elected Councilor Miriam Witherspoon, who used a wheelchair. The council met at the Birmingham Museum of Art during the work.

Technology improvements contracted from Granicus of San Francisco, California and installed in early 2008 allowed for a video record of council meetings to be indexed and published on the internet, along with electronically-recorded votes.

Rooms

In the 1964 city directory, City Hall offices were distributed as follows:

Gallery

  • 1950 aerial view

    1950 aerial view

  • City Commission in the early 1950s

    City Commission in the early 1950s

  • Council chamber from dais in 2019

    Council chamber from dais in 2019

  • Renovated Council chamber in 2024

    Renovated Council chamber in 2024

References

External links

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