Manhattan Municipal Building

Manhattan Municipal Building
Map
LocationManhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°42′47″N 74°00′14″W / 40.71306°N 74.00389°W / 40.71306; -74.00389
Built1909–1914[2][3]
ArchitectWilliam M. Kendall
Architectural styleMixture of
NRHP reference No.72000879[1]
NYSRHP No.06101.000372
NYCL No.0079
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 18, 1972
Designated NYSRHPAugust 2, 1982
Designated NYCLFebruary 1, 1966[4]

The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building (originally the Municipal Building and later known as the Manhattan Municipal Building) is a 40-story, 580-foot (180 m) building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The structure was built to accommodate increased governmental space demands after the 1898 consolidation of the city's five boroughs. Construction began in 1909 and continued through 1914 at a total cost of $12 million (equivalent to $269,713,000 in 2023).

Designed by McKim, Mead & White, the Manhattan Municipal Building was among the last buildings erected as part of the City Beautiful movement in New York. Its architectural style has been characterized as Roman Imperial, Italian Renaissance, French Renaissance, or Beaux-Arts. The Municipal Building is one of the largest governmental buildings in the world, with about 1 million square feet (93,000 m2) of office space. The base incorporates a subway station, while the top includes the gilded Civic Fame statue.

The Municipal Building was erected after three previous competitions to build a single municipal building for New York City's government had failed. In 1907, the city's Commissioner of Bridges held a competition to design the building in conjunction with a subway and trolley terminal at the Brooklyn Bridge, of which McKim, Mead & White's plan was selected. The first offices in the Municipal Building were occupied by 1913. In later years, it received several renovations, including elevator replacements in the 1930s and restorations in the mid-1970s and the late 1980s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a landmark in 1966, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In October 2015, the building was renamed after David N. Dinkins, New York City's first African-American mayor.

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