San Jose City Hall facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San José City Hall |
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|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Government offices |
| Architectural style | Postmodern |
| Address | 200 East Santa Clara Street |
| Town or city | San Jose, California |
| Country |  United States |
| Coordinates | 37°20′16″N 121°53′10″W / 37.33778°N 121.8861°W |
| Current tenants |
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| Groundbreaking | 2002 |
| Opened | October 15, 2005 |
| Cost | $384 million |
| Height | |
| Roof | 86.9 m (285 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 18 2 below ground |
| Floor area | 49,240 m2 (530,000 sq ft) |
| Lifts/elevators | 11 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect |
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| Engineer | Englekirk & Sabol |
| Main contractor |
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The San José City Hall is where the city government of San Jose, California works. It is in Downtown San Jose. Famous architect Richard Meier designed it in a Postmodern style.
The building has an 18-story tower, a cool glass rotunda, and a wing for the city council. All these parts are set within a large public square called San José Civic Plaza. The tower is 285 feet (87 m) tall, making it the second tallest building in San Jose.
San Jose has had six main government buildings throughout its history. City leaders met downtown from before 1850 until the 1950s. Then, a new City Hall was built north of downtown. The current City Hall was built during a time when the city was growing very fast. It opened in 2005, bringing the city government back to the downtown area.
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Exploring San José City Hall's Design
The City Hall was designed by Richard Meier. He also designed other famous buildings like the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art. A local company, Steinberg Architects, also helped with the design. Meier's Postmodern design is different from older styles like the Beaux-Arts city halls in San Francisco and Oakland.
The City Hall complex has three main parts, covering 530,000 square feet (49,000 m2) within a 32-acre (13 ha) Civic Plaza:
- The 18-story tower holds many city offices. It is 285 feet (87 m) tall. The mayor's office is on the very top floor.
- The glass rotunda is a separate, round building. It is 110 feet (34 m) tall and looks like a planetarium. It has glass walls held up by cables and steel beams. City leaders wanted a rotunda to make the building feel classic and open. It was meant to be a public entrance. Today, it is mostly used for special city events and private parties.
- The three-story west wing holds the San Jose City Council chamber. This is where the city's leaders meet. It also has public meeting rooms and an office for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The council chamber can seat 330 people. A grand staircase connects this wing to the rotunda and tower.
San José City Hall is very eco-friendly. It has received LEED Platinum certification. This means it was built using green design practices. It is the largest LEED-certified city building in San Jose. The tower uses natural light to save energy. It has tall ceilings and a thin shape to let in lots of sunlight. This helps reduce the need for electric lights. A special sunshade, called a brise soleil, on the west side helps keep the building cool in summer.
The tall tower is also built to be very strong. It can handle big earthquakes from nearby faults. These include the Silver Creek, Calaveras, Hayward, and San Andreas faults. Strong concrete walls on the north and south sides help stabilize the building.
A Look Back: San José's City Halls
The current City Hall is San Jose's sixth main government building. This shows how San Jose grew from a small farming town to a big city.
Early Government Buildings
San José's first government building was a small adobe structure. It was built in 1785 near the Guadalupe River. This building was like a courthouse and had offices for leaders. Today, a historical marker shows where this first building stood.
Around 1797, the settlers moved to higher ground to avoid floods. A new government building was built in 1798. In 1846, during the Mexican–American War, American soldiers took over this building. They raised the American flag over San Jose for the first time. A statue in Pellier Park now remembers this event.
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San Jose became one of California's first cities in 1850. The city government met in rented buildings for a few years. In 1854, the city decided to build a permanent city hall. It cost $20,000. The two-story building opened in 1855. It was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Market Plaza City Hall
After a fire in 1887, voters approved a new city hall. It was built in the center of Market Plaza. The building cost $139,482 and opened in 1889. It was designed by Theodore Lenzen. The San José Public Library was on the second floor. The city jail was in the basement. This building was also badly damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Civic Center City Hall
After World War II, San Jose needed a new, modern city hall. Voters approved a plan in 1952. The new city hall would be built north of downtown. It would be near other government buildings. The building cost about $2.6 million and opened in 1958. It was a curved, four-story building with a modern design.
Moving the city hall out of downtown caused some problems. The old city hall building was torn down in 1958. This is something many city officials now regret. For decades, the downtown area had many empty spaces.
Over the years, the Civic Center complex grew. More county buildings were added. An annex was also added to the City Hall building in the 1970s. In 1987, the Civic Center light rail station opened nearby. This made it easier to get to City Hall by train.
Our Current City Hall
In the 1990s, San Jose was growing fast. The city decided to build a new city hall back downtown. This would help make downtown a lively place again. It would also bring all city offices together. The city was spending a lot of money to rent office space downtown.
In 1996, voters approved the move. In 1998, Richard Meier was chosen as the architect. He first suggested a low-rise building. But Mayor Ron Gonzales and the city council wanted a more iconic building with a rotunda.
The project faced some delays and cost increases. The final cost was $384 million. The rotunda alone cost $40 million. The new City Hall opened on October 15, 2005. It became the first city hall in the country to get LEED Platinum certification for existing buildings in 2009.
In 2011, the city sold the old Civic Center city hall. In 2015, the United States Patent and Trademark Office opened an office in the west wing of the new City Hall. This office helps people get patents for their inventions.
Art at San José City Hall
The front plaza has a water sculpture called "Waterscape." It was created in 2005 by Anna Valentina Murch and Douglas Hollis. It has a fountain with granite slabs and big rocks for sitting. Tall poles spray mist to make it feel cool, like fog.
Around the City Hall, there are 16 art pieces by Andrew Leicester. They are called "Parade of Floats." Each piece shows something about San Jose's different cultures and history. The floor of the bus stop near City Hall has a collage. It shows how people apply for a patent.
A large statue of Christopher Columbus was once in the lobby of the Civic Center building. It was moved to the current City Hall. In 2018, the statue was moved again. It is now at the Italian American Heritage Foundation.
Events and Activities
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The front plaza of City Hall is a public square. People often gather there for political demonstrations.
Sometimes, temporary art displays bring crowds to the plaza. For example, a light art display called "Sonic Runway" was there from 2017 to 2018. It was part of a partnership with the Burning Man project.
In 2017, a new lighting system was added to the rotunda. Now, the tower and rotunda can be lit up with different colors for special events.
Wildlife at City Hall
The City Hall tower is home to a peregrine falcon named Clara. Her mate is named Esteban Colbert. The first falcons, Jose and Clara, had three chicks. Later, Clara and her mate Carlos had three more chicks.
City Hall's Surroundings
Civic Plaza is on the east side of downtown San Jose. It is bordered by East Santa Clara Street, South 4th Street, South 6th Street, and South 5th Street. The Rotary Club of San Jose has a center next to City Hall. San José State University and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library are just one block south. A Lee's Sandwiches store is across South 6th Street. The First Presbyterian Church of San Jose is across East Santa Clara Street.
Getting Around City Hall
The Civic Plaza has an underground parking garage for city workers. There is also a public parking garage nearby. Unlike the old city hall, the current one is not directly next to freeways. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's Santa Clara light rail station is two blocks west.
A bus rapid transit line now runs along East Santa Clara Street. It has a City Hall stop at 6th Street. A Silicon Valley BART extension station was also planned near City Hall. However, it was later combined with another station to save money.
City Hall in Movies and TV
The City Hall rotunda has appeared in films and TV shows. It was in the 2009 Bollywood movie Love Aaj Kal. It also appeared in a 2013 episode of the CBS show Unforgettable.
Images for kids
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San Jose City Hall Photo 1958-2005.jpg
San Jose City Hall from 1958 to 2005
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San Jose City Hall Photo 1889-1958.jpg
San Jose City Hall from 1889 to 1958
See also
In Spanish: Ayuntamiento de San José para niños
