| A hip-roofed stuccoed brick building appearing to be two stories but containing two other floor levels as well. It has a monumental tetrastyle portico with fluted Greek Doric columns on the front (east) façade. A similar portico was added on the west side in 1928. It originally had a domed cupola, but that was removed in 1874. In the accounts in "The Story of Jackson" (1953) (pp. 184 and 189-190) of the original construction of the building in 1846-47 and the rebuilding in 1853-54, it seems evident that the original building, erected by William Gibbons, had suffered a structural failure of some sort, and had become structurally unsound by 1853; and so it was apparently taken down and a new building was constructed in its place in 1853-54 under the direction of Joseph Willis. As originally constructed, the building had a Masonic Hall in the third story (which was the meeting place of Pearl Lodge No. 23 and Silas Brown Lodge No. 65, F&AM). The federal court also occupied both the first and the second city halls, until the federal building was built in 1885 on the corner of West and Capitol Streets. As rebuilt, the City Hall contained a Masonic Hall (still in use) and also an Odd Fellows lodge hall (for Capitol Lodge No. 11, IOOF) which the original building may not have had. Both of the lodge halls were on the second full story of the building, above a mezzanine level (where a partial second story was later inserted in the south half of the building, so that the Masonic Hall is now considered to be on the third story). The Jackson City Hall was listed on the National Register on 25 November 1969. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 5 March 1986. This building is included in "Historic Architecture in Mississippi" (1973) (p. 78), "Jackson Landmarks" (1982) (pp. 60, 62), "The Majesty of Eastern Mississippi and the Coast" (2004) (p.40), "Must See Mississippi" (2007) (pp. 54-57), and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp. 248-249, JM31). [HABS: MS-147 (1936)] |