Early years In its early years, Baltimore city government met in a series of buildings that it purchased or leased, including the Maryland Insurance Company building on South Street from 1801 to approximately 1812; the Baltimore Dancing Assembly Rooms at the northeast corner of Holliday and East Streets (later Fayette Street) from 1818 to 1823; the Baltimore Exchange Company from 1823 to 1830; and
Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts from 1830 until city government moved into the new City Hall in the spring of 1875. At the laying of the cornerstone for the new building on October 18, 1867, speaker John H.B. Latrobe noted of the museum location that "the First Branch held its sessions in what was formerly the very modest picture gallery of Peale's Museum, and the Second Branch succeeded a collection of stuffed animals in an adjacent room."
Baltimore City Hall The site for the new building was selected and some designs were submitted before the
American Civil War. The cornerstone for the building, under Frederick's new design, was not laid until 1867; construction was completed eight years later. At a cost of more than $2 million (in 1870s money), the Baltimore City Hall is built largely of many courses and rows of thicknesses of brick with the exterior walls faced with white marble. The marble alone, quarried in Baltimore and Baltimore County (famous "Beaver Dam" quarry), cost $957,000.
Renovations By the end of
World War II, City Hall was showing signs of age and deterioration. The slate roof leaked, the exterior marble was eroding in places and the heating, cooling and electrical systems needed to be replaced. Even the cast iron dome's fastenings had rusted through and many plates were cracked. In 1959, 15 pounds of iron ornament came loose and plunged 150 feet into the Board of Estimates hearing room. In 1974 the city voted to renovate the old city hall rather than build a new one. Architectural Heritage Inc., in association with Meyers, D'Aleo and Patton Inc., local architects, were retained to begin the design. The ceremonial chambers were restored and the office space was doubled. In the process the dome was disassembled and put back together. Two years and $10.5 million later the Mayor, the City Council and other city departments moved back into the building. Usable space was increased almost twofold after the renovation, by fitting in two extra floors, by replacing dead storage space in the basement with offices, and by moving corridor walls to maximize office space. In 2009, a building survey found that sections of the building's marble exterior were cracked and crumbling due to age. The city approved spending $483,000 for repairs to be made the same year. In 2008, the City Hall's bell "Lord Baltimore", cast in 1887, was repaired by its original manufacturer,
McShane Bell Foundry. ==Incidents==