Art: Fresno

Fresno— 1944

The word city hall usually evokes visions of a dingy interior with a minimum of window space and a maximum of official smell behind a façade that may combine the styles of the Taj Mahal, the Erechtheum and Ralph Adams Cram Gothic. But when Fresno (Calif.) citizens planned their city hall they decided to break with U.S. tradition. They decided that a city hall has no need of domes, pillars, Corinthian capitals or musty interiors copied from Roman baths. Last week U.S. architects were hailing the result of Fresno's decision.

Fresno's functional...

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