After being incorporated as a city in 1848 market stalls were converted into municipal offices and this arrangement served as City Hall for the next 40 years. In anticipation of a new facility a design competition was held in 1889 with eight local architects submitting plans; Charles E. Colton won. He borrowed heavily from the concepts of Henry Hobson Richardson, America’s most influential architect of the late 1800s, by adapting a medieval Romanesque style with rough-cut limestone, truncated pillars, triple arches and a dominant tower. City Hall has undergone relatively few changes over the years, although the main entrance has switched sides since it originally faced the Erie Canal.
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