City Hall Historic District - Rochester, NY
Posted by: 
sagefemme
N 43° 09.289 W 077° 36.841
18T E 287466 N 4781324
"The City Hall Historic District, tightly clustered in two downtown blocks in Rochester, is one of the most architecturally compelling nineteenth century civic complexes remaining in a major New York State city."
Waymark Code: WMDJAH
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 01/20/2012
Views: 5
The quote in the quick description continues:
Each building in this complex reinforces the other in a remarkably interwoven architectural and historical web. The church and academy stand side by side representing the early and later phases of Gothic Revival in the nineteenth century. A Political juxtaposition occurs across the street with the courthouse backed up to the City Hall. And overlaid on the district is the common hand of Rochester's gifted architectural family, A. J. Warner, and his son J. Foster Warner in three of the four buildings. (Source: NRHP nomination form)
This historic district is made up of a tight collection of four buildings along S. Fitzhugh Street, Rochester. All four have been waymarked as contributing buildings: St Luke's Episcopal Church, Rochester Free Academy, City Hall, County Courthouse.
As each building has already been waymarked, I will only provide orientation to the district. Two of these buildings face S. Fitzhugh St: St Luke's Episcopal Church, and Rochester Free Academy. These are also the oldest buildings in this historic district.
City Hall was built third, and faces Broad Street today, which was the Erie Canal, but the more massive entrance was on the opposite face. Finally, the County Courthouse was built facing Main Street. An addition was eventually added to this building, extending it to the very doorstep of the old City Hall. The space between these two buildings is now enclosed in a 'breezeway'. The western facade of each of these buildings faces S. Fitzhugh Street, so that all four buildings can be seen while walking this single block.
The Main Street Historical District can be found to the immediate north, and the State Street Historic District beyond that. Several individual historic buildings are found to the east. To the immediate east of City Hall is the Times Square Building, an Art Deco building constructed in 1929-30, and to the south of that is the Gannett Building, built in 1927. Beyond those, to the east are several historic bridges, including the Second Erie Canal Aqueduct, the Court Street Bridge and the Main Street Bridge. Two of these are currently waymarked.
To the west, beyond the parking lots are several other historic districts: the Bridge Square Historic District and the Child, Jonathan House Brewster-Burke House Historic District. In addition First Church and the Bevier Building are within easy walking distance.