Los Angeles City Hall

For forty years, a city ordinance prohibited buildings taller than 150 feet, but City Hall got the only exemption granted in over fifty years. On dedication day, April 26, 1928, President Calvin Coolidge turned on the Lindbergh Beacon atop the tower by telegraph from Washington, D.C. The concrete was made with sand from each of California’s 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions. The tower design was modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Between 1998 and 2001, approximately 414 rubber base isolators were inserted under the building just above the foundation. The retrofit allows it to withstand an 8.2 magnitude earthquake.