Chicago, IL: City Hall

(Satellite, both of these lost buildings occupied Block 39)

In 1830 the federal government gave Block 39, bounded by Clark & LaSalle and Randolph & Washington, to Cook County for public use. The city did not get any federal land. The city used three different buildings for their city hall until, in 1953 when Cook County needed to build a bigger courthouse, the county offered the western half of their block to the city to pay off a $30,000 debt to the city for services rendered. [ChicagoArchitecture] This is what the joint building that contained City Hall #4 looked like after a couple of expansions]

BDBRCPC posted
City Hall, LaSalle and Washington, 1870, Chicago.

Raymond Kunst shared
[Some comments indicate that Lincoln's funeral stopped here.]
Neil Gale Raymond Kunst - This is a picture of the Chicago City Hall and Courthouse with the county wings just added in 1870.

Below is what that joint building looked like when first built. As the population of Chicago exploded in the 1800s, they added a third floor, a large dome, and the county wings mentioned by Neil in the above caption. Note the wings were added just a year before everything would be destroyed by the 1871 fire.

Chicago History Museum via WTTW

City Hall #5 was a temporary building called the "Rookery." It had the first public library in a big water tank! "For $50,000 and other considerations" the county granted the City half the block and the county and city did another joint development. [ChicagoArchitecture] The Facebook caption for the photo below is wrong for two reason. Not only was this not a federal building, it was the destruction, rather than the construction, of City Hall #6. You don't have big rubble piles against the sides of the building during construction. They have already torn down half of City Hall #6 and built the new county half in the background. The foreground half is now being torn down to make way for City Hall #7. City Hall #7 and its mirror county building are still in use today for their intended function.

Lawrence Shoop posted
Federal Building in the block bounded by Adams and Clark and Dearborn streets and Jackson Boulevard. Construction between 1898 and 1905.
Stanley Niziolek 219 South Dearborn.
Michael Bose NOT the Federal Building at all. It's the old City Hall under construction, that was demolished in a short time because it was sinking into the ground. The current City and County Buildings replaced it. The photo actually has a caption on it telling you it's CITY HALL under construction.

City Hall #6 was bad in about every possible way. The interior had several design issues, and it took a long time to build it. Ground was broke in 1875. The county moved in to their half in 1882, but it took three more years to finish the city half. Construction took so long that by the time the city could use it, the city had outgrown it! So it was almost a relief that the architect James Egan's experimental mat-and-pile foundation was a failure. The building sank 6" in 24 hours in 1905, which caused a gas pipe to rupture near the roof. The resulting explosion blew the roof off the building. This allowed the city and county to save face with the decision to build a replacement. [ChicagoArchitecture, Chicagology]

Chicagology