Seat of government
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In local government, a city hall, town hall or (more rarely) a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city, town or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments, and their employees. It also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county.
By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a single large open chamber (or 'hall') formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the 'town hall', (and its later variant 'city hall') has become synonymous with the whole building, and with the administrative body housed in it. The terms 'council chambers', 'municipal building' or variants may be used locally in preference to 'town hall' if no such large hall is present within the building. Sometimes, like Birmingham Town Hall in the English Midlands, municipal buildings act as a public social venue and as a building completely separate from the administrative centre; Birmingham uses the Council House for local governance.
The local government may endeavour to use the townhall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, "'town halls' serve not only as buildings for government functions, but also have facilities for various civic and cultural activities. These may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or "civic centres" are often designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind.
As symbols of local government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture, and the buildings may have great historical significance - for example the Guildhall, London. City hall buildings may also serve as cultural icons that symbolize their cities as is the case with Toronto City Hall, Brussels Town Hall, Philadelphia City Hall, and Los Angeles City Hall, that have been featured in Hollywood films.
See also
- List of city and town halls
- Royal Palace of Amsterdam (was a town hall and for a long time the largest (public) administrative building in Europe)
- Town meeting
