A cast-iron dome rises 227 feet above you, crowning one of the finest Second Empire buildings in the country. Baltimore City Hall was completed in 1875 after thirteen years of construction, designed by George Frederick in the French Second Empire style that was fashionable in the years following the Civil War — the same ornate vocabulary of mansard roofs, dormer windows, and elaborate stone carving that characterizes the expansion of the United States Capitol and countless courthouses and city halls built in the post-war decades. The cast-iron dome rises 227 feet and was considered an engineering achievement when completed; it is one of the largest cast-iron domes in the country.
The building was nearly demolished in the 1960s when it was considered outdated and impractical, a victim of the same urban renewal logic that destroyed so many nineteenth-century landmarks. A citizen campaign saved it, and a meticulous restoration completed in 1975 returned the building to something close to its original appearance. Baltimore's mayors have governed from this building for 150 years, through the industrialization of the harbor, two World Wars, the Great Fire of 1904, the civil rights movement, and the long economic restructuring of the post-industrial era.
The Council chamber inside retains its original woodwork and arched windows. This block of City Hall Plaza is where Baltimoreans gather to celebrate championships, protest injustices, and mark the moments that define their city.