Altoona, Pennsylvania

The first building on this site was erected for the Vigilant Steam Fire Engine Company in 1870, two years after Altoona was chartered as a city.  Funds for construction were raised through private subscriptions and contributions from members of the company. The engine house’s 75-foot corner tower, which served as a hose lookout, was a landmark on the late nineteenth-century skyline.

When the building was razed in 1925 to make way for this Beaux Arts city hall, the o!d clock and the bell, which for years sounded the general fire alarm, were donated to the Blair County Historical Society, where they remain today.

Construction of the new city hall commenced with a ground-breaking ceremony on June 22, 1925, and the building was occupied on November 11, 1927. Altoona architects Frederic Shollar and Frank Hersh designed the building with a Rockport gray granite foundation, a rusticated Indiana limestone first floor and Flemish bond buff brick on the second and third floors. However, to cut expenses, they decided to continue incorporating the various municipal functions under one roof, in contrast with the nationwide trend toward more specialized structures for each branch of local government. To this day, the police department, jail, courts, city treasurer, and mayor share the building.