THEN AND NOW: Old City Hall in the 60s

HSVMunicipalBuilding — The old municipal building and Big Spring Park have changed a lot over the years. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

The new $90 million Huntsville City Hall opened this week downtown. So what better time to take a then and now look at its predecessor?

We wanted to compare the modern-day building to how it looked 60+ years ago before it gets torn down in the coming months.

All of the original photos are taken from Harvie P. Jones’ architecture notebooks from 1963 and were provided by the UAH Archives.

Then and now:

Screenshot 2024 05 23 at 10.30.33 AM 2 — The view of the old city hall from across the lake at Big Spring Park circa 1963. (UAH Archives)

Just out of frame to the right is the Huntsville Museum of Art. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

These pictures taken from Big Spring Park show just how much the lake has shrunk between then and now.

Screenshot 2024 05 23 at 10.29.03 AM — A picture taken from the ground looking up at the municipal building. (UAH Archives)

This recreation was taken from the sidewalk at the base of the hill next to the building. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

This view shows that there has been work done to the top of the old municipal building, particularly around the crown of the back of the building. The slight difference in distortion between the pictures makes me think that the original was taken at a higher elevation (notice the arches in the foreground). You can see how that would be possible in the next picture.

Screenshot 2024 05 23 at 10.28.50 AM — The view of the old city hall from Big Spring Park. (UAH Archives)

You can see the new city hall peaking out behind the old one. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

At some point, Big Spring Park had a large-scale redesign. You can see that the lake used to be bigger and calmer (probably from a lack of koi fish), the building to the right of the picture was replaced and more interestingly there appears to be some modifications to the elevation of the park and roads when you compare the slope of grass that’s in the picture on the right.

Screenshot 2024 05 23 at 10.29.18 AM — The original entrance. (UAH Archives)

The entryway looks a lot different today. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

This section of the building probably has the most obvious change, with additional structures, new pavement and strangely the doors or windows look to have been shifted to the left.

If you’re interested in checking out other photo recreations of old Huntsville, we’ve also got then and now photos of Downtown Huntsville and Lowe Mill from the 90’s.

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