<p>Home to thirteen of NYC`s municipal agencies, the Municipal Building is one of the city`s most imposing presences, with an influence on civic architecture that reached as far as Stalinist Russia. Its tower is topped by Adolph Weinman`s statue &ldquo;Civic Fame&rdquo; and its grandly proportioned arch frames a tunnel once traversed by Chambers Street traffic.</p><p>Manhattan Municipal Building resulted from 4 architectural competitions finally won by McKim Mead and White, then the largest architectural firm in the world; it was their 1st skyscraper and the 1st building to incorporate a subway station.</p>

&lt;p&gt;In addition to Civic Fame, Weinman sculpted the rectangular allegorical bas-relief panels at the base of the building, which are located above the side arches. Civic Duty, above the smaller arch to the right (south) of the center arch, shows a female representation of the city alongside a child holding the city seal. Civic Pride, above the smaller arch to the left (north), depicted the city as a woman "receiving tribute from her citizens". There are heroic-scaled winged figures above the spandrels of the side arches: Guidance, a depiction of a female on the left arch, and Executive Power, a depiction of a male on the right arch. These are respectively topped by medallions representing Progress, a nude kneeling man with a torch in one hand and a winged sphere in the other, and Prudence, a half-nude kneeling woman holding a mirror while a serpent is curled around her right arm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 

 This floor plan ensured that all of the building's windows would be able to receive direct sunlight and eliminated the need for an interior courtyard, which could not be lit by sunlight.  

 22nd-floor false colonnade, and elevators. The shields represent the historical New Amsterdam and the Province of New York, as well as the present-day county, city, and state of New York (the county of New York being coextensive with the borough of Manhattan).  

The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building

Municipal Building

 Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the Manhattan Municipal Building. 

 On the fourth stop, James Kaplan discusses the American troop situation in New York in 1776. 