Quite possible, the most seen city hall in the world due to its usage in movies. The current incarnation of the Los Angeles City Hall had its ground breaking in 1926 and was opened on May 6, 1928. City Hall was the first building in Los Angeles, and until 1952, the only one that was allowed to be exculded from the city's 13 floor building limit (150 feet) rising 450 feet above Spring Street. This exclusion would be of national significance, setting the idea that "a municipality is not governed by its own ordinances." However, in 20 years time, city hall had outgrown the original office space and in the 1950s and 1960s, 2 city hall annexes, City Hall East and City Hall West expanded the working space by several hundred thousand square feet.
City Hall proper was designed by a team of 3 architectural firms called the Associate Architects. John Parkinson was in charge of concept and architectural design, Albert C. Martin took care of structural design, and John C. Austin did the working drawings. An interesting tidbid is that it rests on pools of mecrury as an earthquake precaution.
Los Angeles City Hall
300 Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012