OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Overview

This severe, Neo-classical building had the propriety and bearing of a Federal building or bank. It operated as Anaheim's third city hall between 1923 and 1980.

Building History

Voters rejected a city electoral proposition to issue $30,000 worth of construction bonds for a new city hall in late 1915. (See "Public Buildings," American Contractor, 01/01/1916, p. 37.)

Electrical West, a magazine for electrical contractors in the Western US, wrote in its issue of 01/01/1922: "The plans for the new $75,000 city hall are being drawn by architects T.C. Kistner of San Diego and M. Eugene Durfee of this city, associated.” (See “Construction News and Industrial Developments,” Electrical West, vol. 48, no. 1, 01/01/1922, p. 39.)

A note in the Riverside Daily Press of 05/20/1922 stated: “Anaheim’s new city hall will cost $102,402. The contract has been let to Wilson & Bever, local builders, and work will start at once. The site has already been cleared.” (See “Will Build City Hall,” Riverside Daily Press, vol. XXVII, no. 120, 05/20/1922, p. 5.)

The cost of $102,402 was significantly higher than the $75,000 cost quoted in the Electrical West article of four months earlier. Building material shortages were common in many places during 1919 and 1920 following World War I, likely leading to the inflation of the city hall's costs. Nationally, the number of privately financed dwelling units leapt from 247,000 in 1920 to 716,000 in 1922, fueling the inflated prices of building materials nationally. (See Appendix B. Statistical Tables, Table A--Estimated number of privately financed new permenant dwelling units started annually: 1920 to date," Study and Investigation of Housing, Hearing before the Joint Committee on Housing Eightieth Congress, Part 5, [Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1948],p. 6073.)

PCAD id: 15776