Public Buildings, Commissioners for the Erection of

[Record group 160]

Agency Function

This Commission ceased functioning in 1901.

Agency History

Established by Act of August 5, 1870, which gave to eleven Commissioners, including the Mayor and the Presidents of Select and Common Councils, full power to plan and erect the present City Hall and to draw upon the City for all needed funds. This Commission superseded a board of "Commissioners for the erection of Public Buildings", established by an ordinance of Councils, approved December 31, 1868, which had been authorized to erect public buildings on Independence Square. An Act of May 24, 1893, abolishing the Commission was overturned by the State Supreme Court, and the Commission was disbanded by the Assembly only on the City Hall's near-completion by the Act of May 11, 1901, effective July 1. An ordinance of June 26 gave the custody of the building, on its receipt from the Commissioners, to the Department of Public Safety.

Archival Records

160.1 Minutes (1870-1901)

160.2 Rough Minutes (1870-1893; missing 1873-1881)

160.3 Letter Book (1885-1898)

160.4 Executive Committee, Minutes (1873-1901)

160.5 Executive Committee. Rough Minutes (1882-1901)

160.6 Bills Presented to the Executive Committee (1900-1901)

160.7 Committee on Electric Lighting. Minutes (1891-1901)

160.8 Committee on Elevators. Minutes (1885-1900)

160.9 Committee on the Metal Work of the Tower. Minutes (1889-1900)

160.10 Accounts (1872-1901)

160.11 Appropriation Ledger (1894-1901)

160.12 Expenditures Journal (1872-1901)

160.14 Cash Book (1872-1901)

160.15 Tower Cost Book (1889-1896)

160.16 Statement of Tower Costs (1889-1892)

160.17 Payroll (1889-1896)

160.18 "Complete Statement of Financial Transactions" (1901)

160.19 "Plans of the New Public Buildings" (1888)

160.20 City Hall Drawings & Plans (1 February 1871 - 28 June 1901)

160.21 Field Book, Calculation of Tower Stresses (ca. 1891)

160.22 Report of Mechanical Tests of Building Materials (1884)

160.23 Pamphlets (1860-1893)

160.24 Schedule of Proposals (1901)

160.25 Contract Register (1871-1892)

160.26 Contracts (1873, 1889, 1898)

160.27 Tower Engineer. Report (1898)

160.27a Tower Construction. Papers (1892-1898)

160.28 "The New Public Buildings on Penn Square" (1880)

160.29 "Photographs of the New Public Buildings" (ca. 1901)

160.30 Architect's Correspondence (1894-1906)

160.31 "The City Hall" (1897)

160.32 History of the Commission (1871-1889)

160.33 Forms of Proposals (1894-1901)

160.34 Designs for Public Buildings on Independence Square (ca. Dec. 1869)

160.35 Guides to the City Hall (1892, 1899)

160.36 Scrapbooks, Philadelphia Public Buildings (December 1860 to March 1900)

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Last updated on November 8, 2000