City Hall

My handy work is every day from 7am to noon, and after that I'm free, which means I have plenty of time to dawdle. Nearly everyday, I ride a bus from Roxborough to Center City. A bus which snakes through buildings so tall I can't see the tops; even when I angle myself in compromising and unsubtle ways. Each time I that take this ride, I wind up at City Hall. 

Built in 1871, Philadelphia’s City Hall is masterful and garish. It looks the $24 million price tag. The middle of the building is hollow with no roof, there are four cut-outs in each direction and you can walk through it without ever using a door. The park square in the center looks and feels like a castle, a compass is embossed in the ground with arrows pointing out to the main veins of the city. 

City Hall is overwhelming- both to take it in all at once or to account for any particularity in the sea of cosmopolitan stonework. At one point, I was able to spot the head of a water buffalo, but once it was gone, I never found it again, even with recruited help. 

Each time I want to leave center city, to catch the bus that snakes through tall buildings, I find my way back to City Hall.

It is the hub and compass; it is the crowning jewel. 

April 19th, 2019