6 May 09: Today in City Hall . . .

All right, this one's gonna cap off the current City Hall blitz. I realized when writing the calendar companion piece the other day that it's really impossible to stay brief when speaking of City Hall. The point of that exercise was to add some captions to the photos included in this month's calendar, and it turned into a series of photo essays on City Hall's interior. And here we are. Conversation Hall, the Mayor's Reception Room, City Council's Caucus Room and Chambers, the ceiling of the Commerce Department, and the North, South and East Portals (as well as the Crypt of the Tower) are all examined here. We'll also take a peak at the mechanism behind the 26' clock and the ornamentation applied to even the stairwell inside the tower. Check out the cornerstone in the crypt section -- big ups to President Ulysses S Grant. Alexander Milne Calder's 250+ sculptures on the exterior of the building, the views from the observation deck, the Septa subway station, the courtyard, and the other offices in the building are all worthy of their own photo sets, which we'll save for another day. (The photo above is unrelated.) There are 70 photos total across nine sections. We'll start with our Philadelphian dignitaries in Conversation Hall, by clicking this fancy graphic here. Hope you like. –B Love