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Addis Ababa City Hall

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Type
  
Municipal building

Country
  
Height
  
42 m

Floor area
  
14 ha

Construction started
  
1961

Location
  
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Completed
  
1964

Opened
  
1964

Architectural style
  
Addis Ababa City Hall httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Current tenants
  
Government of Addis Ababa

Main contractor
  
Varnero Construction plc

Similar
  
Africa Hall, Tiglachin Monument, Yekatit 12 Square, St George's Cathedral, National Museum of Ethiopia

The Addis Ababa City Hall houses the offices of the Municipality of Addis Ababa.

Contents

Map of Addis Ababa City Hall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

History

Along with Africa Hall, the UNECA headquarters, the Addis Ababa city hall was one of the two projects designed to demonstrate, in the words of Emperor Haile Selassie, “that it is possible to construct grand buildings here too [in Ethiopia], by erecting a couple of high-profile structures. It is not their complexity or size that matter, but the maximum possible use of home-produced materials, in order to shake our wealthy middle class (which keeps its money under the mattress) from the inactivity that also binds it in the field of construction, and stimulate it to invest its assets also in building to make this ‘great village’ a city and a true great capital”. Construction commenced in 1961 and was completed in 1964. Queen Elizabeth II received the freedom of the city on 4 February 1965 in a ceremony here, and attended a banquet in her honour that day.

Features

The structure is situated at the northern end of Churchill Avenue, and is a direct consequence of the avenue's re-routing, sitting on top of a hill overlooking the thoroughfare. The structure features various spaces – the hall, boardroom, reception room, cinema-theatre, restaurant, 4 bars, library, and panoramic terrace – making it a social as well as an administrative centre.

References

Addis Ababa City Hall Wikipedia


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