Traversing the Trails: St Paul City Hall

We had read that the St Paul City Hall was a fabulous example of Art Deco architecture and worth a visit to explore the building. The funds to build the structure were authorized just before the Great Depression and when costs fell during the depression the funds were used to enhance the quality of the building.

The following description of the building and history comes from this link: Link

Overview

On October 20th, 1931, the cornerstone was laid for a building to symbolize 20th Century pride in progress, industry, and democracy. The Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse departed from the prevalent classic architectural style to become one of the most stunning examples of public architecture from the Depression Era.

Built between 1930 and 1932 under architects Holabird and Root of Chicago, and Ellerbe and Company of Saint Paul, the building uses the art deco styles of American Perpendicular and Zigzag Moderne.

In 1928, a $4 million public bond was designated for the building. Because of the stock market crash of 1929, the cost of labor and materials was much less than anticipated. As a result, the building was finished with expensive domestic and foreign woods and marble, and artistic details were woven into its very structure. The building was dedicated on December 19th, 1932.

The Exterior

The 20-story City Hall was built in the American Perpendicular style from Indiana limestone and Wisconsin Rosetta black granite. A three-story base steps back to the central tower accentuated by thin vertical lines of dark windows and connecting spandrels, which give the building a soaring appearance. A series of reliefs by New York sculptor Lee Lawrie highlight the main entrances.

The Interior

In contrast to the stark monochromatic exterior, the interior of the Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse was designed in the more jazzy, ornate Zigzag Moderne, an art deco style derived from a 1925 Paris art exhibition. The art deco theme is used throughout the building, even down to such details as door handles, light fixtures, stair railings, and the lobby mailbox.

Memorial Hall, dedicated to the Ramsey County soldiers who died in 20th Century wars, measures 85 feet by 21 feet and extends upward for three stories. Blue Belgian marble, gold mirror ceiling, and sixteen hollow bronze shafts set in marble columns and lighted from within all serve to highlight the hall's most spectacular feature — the Vision of Peace.

Vision of Peace

Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, a pacifist, was deeply impressed by a Native American ceremony he witnessed in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Memories of that ceremony were a dominant influence when he created the statue, “Vision of Peace.” Although there is no connection between Native American spirituality and his own vision, Milles depicted five Native Americans seated around a fire and holding their sacred pipes. Emerging from the smoke of those pipes is a “god of peace” which Milles imagined speaking to “all the world.”

The statue weighs approximately 60 tons, stands 36 feet high, and was carved from Mexican onyx using Milles’ full-scale model. The statue sits on a revolving base which can be turned 66 degrees to either side of center. There are 98 sections fastened to a steel I-beam and supported by three-quarter inch bronze ribs. The statue was unveiled on May 28, 1936, and named Vision of Peace in 1994 at a special community ceremony involving three major Minnesota Native American tribes.

Interior Artwork

The third-floor Council Chambers, finished in English oak and furnished with woods from Eastern and Western Europe and Africa, features four giant murals painted by John Norton, a Chicago painter associated with the Prairie School architects. Using a style known as WPA Moderne, Norton depicted the founding and growth of Saint Paul. The south wall has scenes of the voyageurs and their relations with the Native Americans, and a steamboat captain from the days before railroads came to Ramsey County. The murals show the beginning of the railroad era, featuring a surveyor; and modern industry and progress, with the major figure celebrating labor.

Similar themes of history and industrial growth characterize relief sculptures on the elevator doors in the first-floor lobby. Six bronze doors were designed by New York artist Albert Stewart. Using a flat relief style, Stewart portrayed and Indian and tee - pee, a black slave working along the Mississippi, a farmer, a factory, a train, a Bunsen burner, a worker carrying a power tool, and the Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse itself.