I found some other city halls that I think would be a good model if we should ever build a new one. They are adding an addition but they should just save the money and build a new. One that makes a statement about Omaha's past present and future. Not this.
Here are some others.
Kansas City
Minneapolis
Tokyo
Buffalo
My personal favorite, Toronto. If I dind't live in Omaha I would live here. This design makes the buildings look bigger than they actually are. The taller tower is only 327' the other 261'. Very doable for Omaha.
My ideal is to build a new City-County building on the parking lot just west of the Roman L. Hruska Federal Courthouse, at 18th and Douglas Streets (site of the old Fontenelle Hotel). The old Civic Center could then be transferred to use for the State of Nebraska offices. The 3-story State of Nebraska office complex at 13th and Farnam Streets can then be demolished to make way for a higher density private office or residential structure, or better yet, skyscraper.
It's mind blowing how they could get rid of that building entirely and put up that box in it's place. When will we get to the point of knocking down modern buildings instead of historically signifigant and beutiful ones.
If we merge with Douglas county anytime soon, I think we will need a new one sooner than later. Douglas County (according to the Chamber site) is supposed to have a projsected population of 510,000 by 2010. Both governments exist in the building now but they will have to anticipate growth and see the need for a new building. Maybe in the 15 year range by 2020.
With all of the groups that are sprouting in Omaha that are concerened about civic appearance, like Omaha by Design or Lively Omaha, any new City Hall has a better chance of being a signifigant structure and not a monument to banality. Omaha is much better than that.
The Old City Hall (1880) had flaws
The top of its tower had to be taken down in 1919.In 1950 the steeples were removed
and in 1962 Public Safety said it was too dangerous.
Still it was cool. Another postcard:
Good point about the merger, DTO. And whenever Omaha decides to have a regional council of governments like almost every other major metropolitan area (a MAPA upgrade in a sense), they could be located in the new city hall as well.
18th and Farnam - where the Woodman tower is now.
Across the street from the old Court House
(those steps in the second picture led up to the courthouse)
Just to the west of the Bee Building (Bee newspaper)
Omaha isn't the only city with a bland modern city hall.
Boston. Very disappointing for Boston.
Here's a better one of Toronto. The bottom picture is their old city hall. Look familiar. It was hard to find a decent looking modern city hall. When we ever do get one, Omaha can set a standard for well designed government buildings.
It's interesting that Omaha actually lost more notable historic structures after the formation of Landmarks Inc. and the establishment of the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission than before.
D'Shawn, you're forgetting that all of the modern buildings that some people don't appreciate today will be the "historic" buildings 50 years from now. We can't let the City County Building, or the Zorinsky Building, etc. become the old Post Office Buildings and Fontenelle Hotels of tomorrow.
This was a hard concept for me to grasp, but think about it. When structures like the WOW Building, Post Office, City Hall, Fontenelle Hotel, etc. were demolished it was because they were seen as "old" and "outdated". Now we all wish those people had more "foresight". Well, it's our chance to have foresight.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Zephyr wrote:It's interesting that Omaha actually lost more notable historic structures after the formation of Landmarks Inc. and the establishment of the Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission than before.
Maybe that's why those organizations were set up.
The City-County building is like pop music. Disposable. Maybe they could be something to look out 50 years down the road. We'll see.
I will agree that there is such a thing as good design, quality design. If something has a good design to it it will always be valuable, regardless of when it was made. However, so much of the architecture to come out of the latter half of the 20th century was not good design, and was not "built for the ages".
That's the |expletive| that can easily go, eg. the Nebraska State Office Building in DTO.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
As long as were shooting for the best, why not have a Gehry designed building in Omaha? Something like the Stata Center at MIT, or the band shell in Millenium Park in Chicago would be sweet.
I got a Gehry book for Christmas awhile back. His Guggenheim Museum looks like the Qwest Center with a steel rose on it. I would like to see domed city hall. Maybe a little like the Capital but with a modern feel.
It seems Omaha has a terrible history of building preservation. 
or 
. You sir are on the top of your game! 
