Pasadena City Hall, 100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena, Los Angeles County, CA

Significance: Pasadena City Hall is significant as the central and dominant building in the Pasadena Civic Center, a complex of civic, institutional and cultural buildings which is one of the finest examples in the nation of the ideals of the City Beautiful movement. City Hall itself is the keystone of this assembly of Mediterranean style buildings, a style particularly appropriate to Southern California. Its individualistic design embodies the formal classical elements of the Italian Renaissance accented by exuberant Baroque touches in the central tower structure. The Baroque courtyard fountain set amid plants and decomposed granite walks creates an atmosphere reminiscent of the California missions. A fine example of the California Mediterranean style, City Hall evokes California's Spanish heritage as well as European models. The unique quadrangle plan combines well the needs of a modern office building with the free movement between indoor and outdoor space so desirable in the Southern California climate. The central motif, the massive dome, was designed to dominate the skyline of Pasadena as a symbol of the City and the civic pride of its citizens. Historically, the building of City Hall and the completion of the Civic Center complex in the 1920's represent a high point in Pasadena's history as the principal early cultural center of Southern California and as a city of extraordinary wealth and civic pride.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-144
Survey number: HABS CA-420
Building/structure dates: 1927 Initial Construction