Vienna City Hall (German: Wiener Rathaus) is the seat of local government of Vienna, located on Rathausplatz in the Innere Stadt district. Constructed from 1872 to 1883 in a Neo-Gothic style according to plans designed by Friedrich von Schmidt, it houses the office of the Mayor of Vienna as well as the chambers of the city council and Vienna Landtag diet. For a brief period between 1892-1894, the Vienna City Hall was the world's tallest building, until it was eclipsed by Milwaukee City Hall. History By the mid 19th century, the offices in the old Vienna town hall, dedicated by the Austrian duke Frederick the Fair in 1316 and rebuilt by the Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach around 1700, had become too small. When the lavish Ringstraße was laid out in the 1860s, a competition to build a new city hall was initiated, won by the German architect Friedrich Schmidt. Mayor Cajetan Felder urged for the location on the boulevard where simultaneously numerous representative buildings were erected, such as the Vienna State Opera, the Austrian Parliament Building, the main building of the Vienna University, or the Burgtheater. Construction costs amounted to a total of about 14 million florins, borne by both the City of Vienna and the Imperial-Royal (k.k.) government after lengthy debate. Big Build The design of the richly adorned facade is modelled on the Gothic architecture of Flemish and Brabant secular buildings like the Brussels Town Hall. It features five towers including the central tower with a height of . On 21 October 1882, the Rathausmann statue was installed on the top, which soon became one of the symbols of Vienna. The structure itself, spread over an area of , is arranged around seven inner-courtyards, more along Baroque lines. A total space of about is spread over thirty floors and two basements with 2,987 rooms. It is largely built with bricks decorated with limestone, mainly from the Leitha Mountains, and ashlar masonry. The Rathaus also accommodates the historic 'Wiener Rathauskeller' restaurant. The traditional restaurant consists of several baroque halls, offering small traditional Viennese delicacies to grand gala buffets. Facing the city hall is the large Rathauspark. Structure The Vienna City Hall has the following structure from top to bottom: Main Tower (Rathausmann) Attic Storey 2nd Floor 1st Floor Half-Floor Ground Floor 1st Basement 2nd Basement Main Tower Atop the steeple of the 98-meter high tower, stands