The Champaign City Building (City hall) is located at 102 N. Neil Street Champaign, Il.  Cornerstone was laid in 1935.  Construction was completed in 1937. It was built as a New Deal Project.  It was partially funded with a federal Grant from the Public Works Administration.  Construction costs were $210,000.  The architect was George Ramey.  Building style was Art Deco.

     Main tower spans 6 floors.  Open opening, the city Council chambers were on the 5th floor.  They are now on the first floor.

     The exterior walls are clad in  light toned blond brick.  This was chosen to make the building stand out from the red brick buildings throughout downtown Champaign.

     Bedford limestone is used extensively for structural trim  and detailing.

     The pyramidal shaped roof capping  the six story tower is clad in copper.  This was deep brown color when it was installed.  Over the years this converted to a light green color

     Reinforced concrete was used

     Basement and footings.  The heavy weight of the building’s stone and brick facade rests entirely on massive, poured in place reinforced concrete footings.

     Retaining walls

    The underground basement level, which houses.mechanical equipment and city archives, utilizes reinforced concrete walls to hold back the surrounding soil and resists ground water pressure

Internal.skeleton

   Floor slabs: the floors separating the basement, main level, and upper chambers are constructed of reinforced concrete slabs.  This provides fire proofing between floors and prevents the building from vibrating.     

    Support columns: hidden behind the decorative interior plaster, a skeleton of reinforced concrete or concrete encased steel  columns transfers the weight of the upper floors and copper roof  structure down to the earth