Vintage Beauty Celebrates In Style

November 4, 2005
By OSHRAT CARMIEL, Courant Staff Writer

Hartford City Hall turns 90 today and city officials are throwing their office building a party.

The whole city is invited.

At 4 p.m. today - 90 years to the hour the Hartford municipal building was dedicated and declared open for business - two jazz ensembles will begin the party, where employees and the public can mingle with the mayor, and former mayors, of Hartford.

"We wanted the people to come in and celebrate the beauty of the building. It shows off itself, really," said Daniel Carey, the city clerk and co-chair of the celebration committee.

"And I get to work here," he said.

What is currently known as Hartford City Hall opened for business as "The Municipal Building," a place built mainly as a storage site for city records. City government operated at the time from the Old State House.

According to a city history, the building was built in two stages, by two different contractors. The reason: there was not enough money available to put up an entire building at once.

The city appropriated $300,000 in 1910 for a small building. Then in 1912, after the cornerstone was laid, officials appropriated $1.1 million more. In the end, the building cost $1.8 million to build and furnish.

Another notable feature: the ceiling of city hall's atrium is a skylight of 1,785 glass panes.

Historical photos and documents will be on display at the party, as well as an oral presentation by historian Wilson Faude.

Hartford City Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.