Municipal Building
1 Centre Street | Civic Center | built 1914
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1908
McKim, Mead & White wins the contest to design a new municipal building
After more than a decade of debate over where to house a growing city government, a jury selects the design submitted by McKim, Mead & White, beating eleven rival firms in the fourth and final competition for the commission. Partner William M. Kendall's Roman Imperial and Beaux-Arts tower is meant to consolidate city departments that had been scattered across rented offices.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1909
Mayor McClellan oversees the laying of a four-ton granite cornerstone for the Municipal Building
Late in December 1909, Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. and the bridge commissioner, James W. Stevenson, attended as a four-ton cornerstone of Maine granite was set. The New York Times predicted it would be the biggest, most elaborate and most ornate city office building anywhere, and expected it to be finished by January 1912 at about $14 million. The design called for a 25-floor building with an eight-story tower, with Chambers Street running through an arcade inspired by Rome's Arch of Constantine.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1910
A foundation cave-in buries three workmen, and priests are lowered in to give last rites
In early June 1910 the east side of the excavation collapsed when sand behind the shoring shifted, burying three workmen. One of them, James McClellan, was pinned by timbers up to his neck, and two priests, Fathers John Curry and Luke J. Evers, were lowered into the pit to give him the last sacraments. He was freed after about three hours and taken to a hospital. A second cave-in on the west side that September hurt no one but undid much of the work.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1913
Adolph Weinman's gilded Civic Fame is raised atop the Municipal Building
Built from 1909 to 1914 by McKim, Mead & White, with William M. Kendall as lead designer, the 40-story tower gave the newly consolidated five-borough city room for its government. In March 1913 workers installed Civic Fame, a 25-foot gilded copper statue by Adolph Alexander Weinman celebrating that consolidation. A subway station is built into the base.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1924
Radio station WNYC begins broadcasting from the tower
The city's own radio station, WNYC, takes up studios on the Municipal Building's 24th floor and starts broadcasting on the AM dial. The station remains in the tower for the next 85 years before finally moving out in 2009.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
City officials push to replace elevators likened to Coney Island roller coasters
By 1931 Manhattan Borough President Samuel Levy was asking for $2 million to replace elevators so unreliable that some employees took the emergency stairs. Parts had to be made by the city because the manufacturer was gone. After fourteen cars were pulled from service in late 1934, a renovation backed by a $1.8 million Works Progress Administration grant began in 1935. The first seven new elevators arrived in April 1936, and the work finished at the end of 1937.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1966
The Landmarks Commission designates the Municipal Building over a city official's doubts
On February 1, 1966, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Municipal Building a landmark after hearings on October 19 and November 17, 1965. Public Works Commissioner Bradford N. Clark had questioned the designation in a letter, and a deputy commissioner testified at the second hearing. The commission praised the triumphal-arch screen of columns and the barrel-vaulted passage that carries Chambers Street through the building.
- 1987
A chunk of granite falls onto the Brooklyn Bridge ramp, and the facade is netted and scaffolded
In 1987 a chunk of granite dropped from the Municipal Building onto a ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge, and no one was hurt. Inspectors found more loose stones, and netting was hung on the facade. In 1988 scaffolding wrapped the building ahead of its first large-scale facade restoration, which was due to begin the next year at about $58 million and needed 39 miles of steel tubing.
“A piece of granite fell from the Municipal Building in 1987, landing on a ramp on the Brooklyn Bridge, although no one was injured.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1996
George Clooney chases a man to the Municipal Building roof in One Fine Day
In the 1996 film One Fine Day, George Clooney's character spots Joe Grifasi's character at the building and chases him up to the roof. The building had already turned up in Crocodile Dundee in 1986, when muggers confront the title character at its subway entrance. In The Professional (1994), Gary Oldman's DEA agent has his office there, numbered 4602.
“Jack Taylor (George Clooney) spots Manny Feldstein (Joe Grifasi) and chases him to the roof…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2009
The Marriage Bureau leaves after decades of civil weddings
For much of its history the Municipal Building held the City Clerk's Marriage Bureau, which performed about 16,000 civil wedding ceremonies a year until it moved in 2009. The building, a city landmark since 1966, was renamed in October 2015 for David N. Dinkins, New York's first African American mayor.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
The city renames the tower for David N. Dinkins
More than a century after ground was broken, officials rename the skyscraper the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building on what would have been his 88th birthday. The renaming honors New York City's first African American mayor, while the tower continues to serve as a hub of city government offices.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Manhattan Municipal BuildingWikipedia
- The 1914 Municipal Building - 1 Centre StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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