Exquisite Old World Philadelphia. Founded 1682. Why Did They Move The Capital to DC?

"An exploration into the city of Philadelphia considering its unique history as the original capitol of the United States. This city radiates Old-World architecture in many buildings. It seems easier to explain given the longer official historical timeline of its development. However, many of the buildings we look at were supposedly constructed in the 19th to the early 20th century. Was the famed City Hall perhaps a considered "designated" location for the United States capitol?"

SOURCE
Lucius Aurelian

Philadelphia has played an extensive role in United States history. The city was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom. The city served as the capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers during the American Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War.

Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774, preserved the Liberty Bell, and hosted the Second Continental Congress during which the nation's 56 founders formed the Continental Army and elected George Washington as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

For nine months, from September 1777 to June 1778, the city fell under British occupation during the war's Philadelphia campaign. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until 1790, and it served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775, until December 12, 1776, and on four subsequent occasions until 1800, when construction of the new national capital in Washington, D.C. was completed.

PHILADELPHIA CITY HALL

The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Ustick Walter in the Second Empire style, and was constructed from 1871 to 1901 at a cost of $24 million. City Hall's tower was completed by 1894, although the interior was not finished until 1901. Designed to be the world's tallest building, it was surpassed during construction by the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower and the Mole Antonelliana.

The location chosen was one of the five center city urban park squares dedicated by William Penn, that geometrically is the center to the other four squares within Center City renamed as Penn Square. City Hall is a masonry building whose weight is borne by granite and brick walls up to 22 ft (6.7 m) thick. The principal exterior materials are limestone, granite, and marble. The original design called for virtually no sculpture. The stonemason William Struthers and sculptor Alexander Milne Calder were responsible for the more than 250 sculptures, capturing artists, educators, and engineers who embodied American ideals and contributed to this country's genius. The final construction cost was $24 million.

It includes 700 rooms dedicated for uses of various governmental operations. The building structure used over 88 million bricks and thousands of tons of marble and granite. With almost 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States and one of the largest in the world.