The 40-story, 580-feet Manhattan Municipal Building was built between 1907 and 1914, during a period called the City Beautiful Movement, to house New York City's municipal administration. Architect William M. Kendall created a monumental structure and despite its mountainous size, thanks to its Beaux-Arts motifs, it was, and perhaps still is, the most beautiful building in the area.
The city launched its construction after it became clear that all, or at least most, of the municipal agencies had to be grouped together under one roof. Prior to the municipal building they had been dispersed in various buildings throughout New York that did not even belong to city's administration. Now mayor George McClellan wanted the agencies to be in one building and close to his office in City Hall, which is just across the street. Later, as the city grew, so did the agencies. Today there are 13 agencies in the Municipal Building with over 2,000 employees.
The main architectural features of the building are the arch at the ground floor entrance, which was modeled after the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and the gilded, 25-feet-tall statue of Civic Fame on the pinnacle. It is the second tallest statue in New York, after the Statue of Liberty and Bellerophon Taming Pegasus at Columbia University. In her left hand the statue holds a five-sectioned mural crown representing the five boroughs of New York City: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.