Hendersonville City Hall
1926-1928.
A conservative, Neo-Classical Revival structure, designed by Erle Stillwell. It is a rectangular, two-story brick structure with a raised basement. A flight of stairs leads up to the main entrance, which is under a full height tetrastyle portico. The actual entrance consists of a bracketed, pedimented doorway. The roof is flat and unadorned. Windows are double hung, framed by molded concrete surrounds and cornice on first floor, and arched brick with a concrete keystone above second floor windows. An inscription above the portico reads "Erected by the People / Dedicated to the Perpetuation / of Civic Progress Liberty and / The Security of Public Honor." Host of the original interior fabric is intact. Hendersonville's City Hall is one of several public structures executed by local architect Erle Stillwell during the 1920s. Although he sometimes employed other styles, Stillwell worked most frequently in a conservative Neo-Classical style in his non-residential buildings. The structure reflects both the prosperity of Hendersonville during the 1920s and the architectural sophistication Erle Stillwell's practice brought to the city. It replaced a circa 1892 Romanesque City Hall and Opera House which had been on Main Street. The new structure was started in 1926 and dedicated in November of 1928.