[2][16] Two of the firm's other partners, Burt L. Fenner and Teunis J. van der Bent, were tasked with leading construction, while the city's Department of Bridges supervised the project.

These include the large gilded Civic Fame statue at the top of the building; smaller sculptural groups; and plaques and coats-of-arms representing the various governments that have ruled Manhattan.

[30][34] The circular section of the central tower is composed of two layers: an enclosed space surrounded by columns, atop which is a smaller peristyle.

[37][42] She carries various symbolic items: a shield bearing the New York City coat of arms, a branch of leaves, and a mural crown, which she holds aloft.

[51] The sculpture was refurbished and re-gilded starting in July 1974 at a cost of $294,500, as part of the interior renovations of the Municipal Building;[41] the restoration was completed by the end of the year.

[52][53] In early 1991, while the facade was undergoing renovations, Civic Fame was removed for six months and re-gilded by New Jersey metalwork shop Les Metalliers Champenois.

[14] The terracotta vault was modeled on the entrance of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome,[3][22] and was also called the "Gate of the City" after William Jean Beauley painted an image of the scene.

[66] The station opened in 1913[67] and was intended as the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's main subway terminal in Manhattan, but fell into disrepair after businesses moved uptown in the 1930s.

[73] The contract for the foundations was the largest to be awarded for a single building in the United States, with 140,000 cubic yards (110,000 m3) being excavated at a cost of $1.5 million.

[62] In later years, the hallways and offices were re-clad in plasterboard and sectioned into small cubicles, but the building retained such elements as its ornate marble bathrooms.

[86] The government, desiring to cut down the amount of rent paid to private landlords, ultimately held four design competitions for a new, massive building that would be suitable to house many agencies under one roof.

[90] The commissioners of the Sinking Fund initially approved a municipal building east of the Tweed Courthouse, at the park's northeastern corner.

Grant proposed a large municipal office building in early 1890,[88] and that July, a committee of the city government was created to look for alternate sites.

[100] In response to opposition to City Hall's demolition,[88] the New York governor signed a law in 1894 that once again prohibited the municipal building's construction.

The structure would replace 280 Broadway and the old Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building, incorporate the then-under-construction Hall of Records, and would also entail destroying the Tweed Courthouse.

Officials pointed out that the cramped quarters of the city government's departments posed a fire hazard, and legislation had been proposed for a new municipal building.

[112] In July 1907, Lindenthal—who had already secured a new plot of land for the Brooklyn Bridge trolley hub—was authorized by the state legislature to host a fourth and final design competition for the municipal building.

[28] The city had initially intended to erect the Manhattan Municipal Building on a plot immediately to the south of the current site, bounded by Park Row, the Brooklyn Bridge, and North William Street.

Three workers were buried in June 1910 when temporary bracing in the foundation collapsed, though all survived;[144][145] another cave-in occurred on Park Row in September 1910.

[178] The city also planned to add three stories atop the building for $2.037 million; to fund this project, it received a $916,650 grant from the Public Works Administration in 1938.

[179][180] By the next year, the building could no longer accommodate all of the city government's agencies, several of which were located in alternate quarters surrounding Foley Square to the north.

[2] Another restoration of Civic Fame took place during this time,[42][51] for which Wank Adams Slavin received a preservation award from the city government.

[205] Lionel Moses, appraising McKim, Mead & White's work in 1922, said that "we have a building of 580 feet to the top of the figure, of superbly monumental character and classic beauty, every part of which attests the architectural knowledge of its designers".

[206] In particular, Moses praised the fact that the firm could create a large office building on "a comparatively small plot of irregular shape", which could still accommodate a subway station, a public street, and mechanical equipment.

[206] The 1939 WPA Guide to New York City stated that the facade "gains dignity through the bold treatment of the intermediate stories, despite the poorly related tower and the disturbing character of the Corinthian colonnade at the base".

[61] In their 2004 book New York Artwalks, Marina Harrison and Lucy D. Rosenfeld described the Civic Fame statue as "a graceful and unusually charming sculpture in the allegorical style of municipal-building decorations".

A reporter for Newsday wrote in 1987: "It is the city not just as a metaphor—although it is certainly that, from Civic Fame (the name of the statue at the very top) right down to the stressful rumble underneath (six subway tracks where the basement would be).

[210] In "Crocodile" Dundee (1986), muggers inside the Municipal Building entrance to the subway station pull a knife on the title character (Paul Hogan) and his girlfriend Sue (Linda Kozlowski).

[210] In The Professional (1994), antagonist Stansfield, played by the actor Gary Oldman, works for the Drug Enforcement Administration at the building, in office 4602.

[84] Additionally, in the music video for the song Not Afraid, the rapper Eminem is depicted standing on the edge of the building's roof in multiple shots.