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A City Hall Virtual Tour |
 
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A City Hall Virtual Tour |
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Courtyard
ity
Hall's architect, John McArthur, wanted all the offices in his design
to front on a corridor and also recieve natural sunlight. His solution
was the courtyard. Located in the exact geographical center of William
Penn's original Philadelphia city plan, the courtyard is where Market Street,
Philadelphia's main East-West thoroughfare, intersects Broad Street, the
main North-South city artery. A huge compass, with the original city map
depicted in its center, has been painted here to give visitors a visual
orientation to the city and the building.
he
courtyard is a busy place, as pedestrian traffic enters it through the
four portals located at each compass point. It is used for numerous
ceremonies throughout the year including an annual Christmas tree lighting.
There are entrances to the Market Street and Broad Street subway lines
which run below and four planter beds with low walls are just the right
height for sitting and people watching.
ooking up from the courtyard at
the facade of the building, you will notice that it is devoid of the ornamentation
so familiar to the exterior elevations. The scale is, however, overwhelming
as the sheer mass of the thick walls and portal openings leaves a distinct
impression of being within a castle compound. Our next stop will be one
of the main passageways into this compound as we head toward North Broad
street to look at the NORTH PORTAL . 
