Philadelphia City Hall is a major civic landmark at the intersection of the city’s two main thoroughfares, Broad and Market streets. Built over a period of 30 years (1871-1901), the French Second Empire structure is a National Historic Landmark with more than 990,000 square feet of interior space built around a 40,000-square-foot courtyard. A 12-year, multi-phase plan to preserve the building and grounds, accommodate future uses, and permit the incorporation of new technologies brought the venerable structure into the 21st century.

From 1994 to 1998, a series of four demonstration projects were conducted in the northeast quadrant of the building to determine the best methods to be used in the restoration and preservation of the original building fabric, its masonry, roofing, gutters and flashing, windows, ornamental cast iron, and sculpture.

Restoration proceeded counterclockwise around the building from the east center pavilion. Extensive scaffolding was erected at each façade in phases to provide access to all exterior areas. The design and construction of the restoration was developed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation.

KMA, in association with Vitetta, led the multidisciplinary team on the project from development of the master plan through completion of the exterior restoration and a series of interior renovations for various city agencies.