WHYY-TV and Millennium Philadelphia Present "City Hall 100"

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One hundred years of construction, controversy and curiosity sit in the exact center of Philadelphia, and WHYY's cameras have captured this intriguing story. City Hall is a century old and CITY HALL 100 will examine this structure that represents the heart of area politics and geography.

Finished in 1901, City Hall was built on a site used for public hangings, was called the ugliest building in America by some architectural experts and narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in the 1950s. This WHYY-produced program, hosted by Tracy Matisak, will give even life-long residents of the City new glimpses into the history and stories surrounding their seat of local government.

"We'll get to see City Hall in a very different way. We'll see things most Philadelphians have never seen, and dispel some myths in the process," said Trudi Brown, WHYY executive producer.

Not only will viewers tour through the cellars, rooftops and every area in-between, but CITY HALL 100 will also capture the structure's significance as a building and as a seat of power, through interviews with many who have known City Hall from the inside out.

Ed Bacon, luminary in the world of city planning, led the charge to tear City Hall down in the 1950s, but is now thankful that his side lost and has come to appreciate it on many levels.

"The building represents how the city wanted to be recognized after the Civil War - as a major center - they wanted to strut their stuff, spread their peacock feathers," explained Patti Hartman, producer of the show.

Construction began shortly after the Civil War, and from the beginning controversy surrounded every facet of building, from the competition between the architects vying for the job of designing it, to placement and funding. In the end, it took 30 years to build and initial cost estimates of $2.5 million quickly soared to a final price tag of $25 million.

For a while the tallest structure in the world at 547 feet, this honor was soon to be lost to the Eiffel Tower and later to buildings in New York. However, height would remain a point of contention surrounding City Hall, as a gentleman's agreement among the City's builders and developers established that no structure would be taller than William Penn's hat on the statue atop the building. This ended in 1980 when then Mayor Wilson Goode pushed for Willard Rouse's plan to build Liberty Place, which would forever change Philadelphia's skyline.

Goode is interviewed on the subject as is Hyman Myers, architectural expert, George Thomas, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, City Councilmen Thatcher Longstreth and David L. Cohen and Abe Rosen, city representative and Director of Commerce under Mayor Richardson Dilworth.

For an even deeper understanding of the structure itself John Rubbo, former building superintendent, speaks in CITY HALL 100 on the intricate infrastructure that is the viscera of City Hall, including the elaborate basement steam room with its tiled walls and ornately decorated metal support beams.

Whether the viewer agrees with the assessment of some that City Hall lacks an aesthetic quality, or goes along with others who claim it is architecturally underappreciated, the fact remains that it speaks to the observer.

"You can read the building," Hartman said, "It speaks to the public with its elaborate details and sculptures."

Maybe the most important of these masonry voices, and the one most in keeping with Philadelphia's meaning of Brotherly Love, are the carvings on the four facades. The East depicts Asians, the West represents Indians, the South is Africans and the North, the Nordic.

CITY HALL 100 shows that without a doubt, City Hall is an integral part of Philadelphia. Some love its placement in the center of town, some feel is a hindrance to traffic on Market and Broad Streets, but either way it engenders feelings in every resident and visitor who looks upon it.

The inspiration for CITY HALL 100 came about as a partnership with Millennium Philadelphia, an initiative designed to promote a regional celebration, which is hosting a number of events in 2000 and 2001.

The producers of CITY HALL 100 are Patti Hartman and Fred Mogul. Trudi Brown is the executive producer.

The program is made possible in part by the Lincoln Financial Group Foundation and by members of WHYY.