The Town Hall (New York City)

Coordinates: 40°45′22″N 73°59′05″W / 40.755986°N 73.984712°W / 40.755986; -73.984712

The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in midtown Manhattan New York City. It opened on January 12, 1921, and seats approximately 1,500 people.

In the 1930s, the first public-affairs media programming originated here with the America's Town Meeting of the Air radio programs. In recognition of this the National Park Service placed the building on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, and designated it a National Historic Landmark in 2013.

History

The Town Hall was built by The League for Political Education, whose fight for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (women's suffrage) led them to commission the building of a meeting space where people of every rank and station could be educated on the important issues of the day. The space, which became The Town Hall, was designed by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, to reflect the democratic principles of the League. To this end, box seats were not included in the theater's design, and every effort was made to ensure that there were no seats with an obstructed view. This design principle gave birth to The Town Hall's long-standing mantra: "Not a bad seat in the house."

The Town (Faulkner novel)

The Town is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1957, about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi. It is the second of the "Snopes" trilogy, following The Hamlet (1940) and completed by The Mansion (1959).

Plot summary

Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of one of three characters: Chick Mallison, Gavin Stevens, or V.K. Ratliff.

Flem moves into Jefferson; is cuckolded by de Spain. De Spain's election. Flem is made power-plant supervisor. Flem steals brass from the plant. Flem plays Tom Tom and Turl off against each other; Tom Tom cuckolds Turl. The firemen hide the brass in the water tower.

Eck Snopes saves a Varner Negro, breaking his neck in the process; he is "never in the world a Snopes." He changes jobs several times. Discussion of Snopes family structure, economy. I.O. Snopes comes to town and moves up (e.g., becomes schoolmaster). Children of Eck and I.O. The Snopes Hotel opens.

Jefferson gossips about Eula. The Cotillion Ball is planned; de Spain invited after some debate. De Spain squeals his tires; under Gavin's instigation, Chick and Gowan finally manage to pop one of his tires. De Spain sends Gowan a special corsage; the town experiences a corsage panic leading up to the ball. At the ball, Gavin challenges, fights, and is beaten by de Spain.

The Town (Richter novel)

The Town (1950) is a novel written by American author Conrad Richter. It is the third installment of his trilogy The Awakening Land. The Trees (1940) and The Fields (1946) were the earlier portions of the series. The Town was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1951.

In September 1966, his publisher Alfred A. Knopf reissued the trilogy for the first time as a single hardcover volume. According to the edition notice of this all-in-one version—which lists the original publication dates of the three books -- The Town was first published on 24 April 1950.

Plot

The Town, the third novel in Conrad Richter’s Awakening Land trilogy, continues the story of frontier woman Sayward (née Luckett) Wheeler and her family. At 280 pages, the book is considerably longer than the other books of the trilogy. The focus of this final book is on the dramatic changes to the town and region with rapid development and industrialization. The theme is dealing with change. Sayward lives through the development of her Ohio Valley settlement into a thriving town, with a variety of businesses and industry. She becomes wealthy by pioneer standards by selling off parcels of her own land to newcomers.

The Town (newspaper)

The Town was a British newspaper that was published between 1837 and 1840. It generally covered the scandals and nightlife of London. Many of the topics written about in the paper were considered extremely vulgar at the time and it was often criticized for discussing these topics. Renton Nicholson, the editor and part owner of the paper, became embroiled in several legal disputes due to the articles that he published.

Content

The Town was founded by the printer Joseph Last in order to cover the "flash life" culture of London. Last initially hired his friend Renton Nicholson to serve as editor. Nicholson later became a part owner of the paper. The first issue of The Town was published in June 1837. The paper consisted of four pages in a large format featuring illustrations. Frequent topics discussed included scandals, theatre and taverns. They often published drawings of waitresses and courtesans. In the early days of its publication, The Town underwent rapid growth.

The Town influenced a number of other publications. Among the notable papers that it influenced include Peter Spy and Paul Pry. Some American papers directly copied material that was first published in The Town without crediting them.

Seat of local government

In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre, (in the UK or Australia) a guildhall, a Rathaus (German), or (more rarely) a municipal building, is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments, and their employees. It also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county / shire.

By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a single large open chamber (or 'hall') formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the 'town hall', (and its later variant 'city hall') has become synonymous with the whole building, and with the administrative body housed in it. The terms 'council chambers', 'municipal building' or variants may be used locally in preference to 'town hall' if no such large hall is present within the building.

The local government may endeavor to use the town hall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, "'town halls' serve not only as buildings for government functions, but also have facilities for various civic and cultural activities. These may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or "civic centres" are often designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind.

Bradford City Hall

Bradford City Hall is a Grade I listed, 19th century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is notable for its landmark bell/clock tower.

History

As town hall

The building was designed by Lockwood and Mawson, and opened in 1873.

Winston Churchill gave his first speech after the Second Battle of El Alamein outside the hall in which he called for the people to 'go forward together and put these grave matters to the proof'.

Before its relocation, between 1847 to 1872, the town hall had been the Fire Station House in Swain Street. In 1869, a new triangular site was purchased, and a competition held for a design to rival the town halls of Leeds and Halifax. The local firm of Lockwood and Mawson was chosen over the other 31 entries. It was built by John Ives & Son of Shipley and took three years to build at a cost of £100,000. It was opened on 9 September 1873, on a very wet day by Matthew Thompson, the mayor.

It was first extended in 1909 to a design by Norman Shaw and executed by architect F.E.P. Edwards, with another council chamber, more committee rooms and a banqueting hall. It was extended again in 1914 with a new entrance and staircase in baroque marble by William Williamson and listed grade I on 14 June 1963.

Halifax Town Hall

Halifax Town Hall is a grade II* listed, 19th-century town hall in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is notable for its design and interiors by Charles Barry and his son, Edward Middleton Barry, and for its sculptures by John Thomas.

History

The Mayor and corporation first proposed that they build a new town hall in 1847. They suggested it again in 1853 after the town had become a borough five years earlier but they still had no central offices. They proposed it again in 1856. The later proposals were prompted by the 1853 Improvement Act, which allowed the borough to borrow £15,000 to build a town hall, courthouse, and police station. The 1856 proposal was also prompted by John Crossley, who was at that time developing Princess Street and Crossley Street, using the architects Lockwood and Mawson who later designed Bradford City Hall. This may explain why the Town Hall blends in with several Crossley Street buildings, which are now listed as a group.

The Council, Edward Akroyd and John Crossley requested that Charles Barry judge the design entries; he disliked all three entries and was asked in turn to submit his own design. His design was accepted, but he died in 1860. His son, Edward Middleton Barry, completed the design which was erected on a 148 x 90 ft plot on John Crossley's land. The foundation stone was laid in 1861. Whiteley Brothers were the builders. It was listed on 31 July 1963.