interior continued the monumental detailing of the exterior. A full-length statue of Alexander Hamilton by Robert Ball Hughes stood in the center of the upper hall, between the Court room and the Common Council Chamber. On one side of this hall was a bas-relief of DeWitt Clinton, with a view of a primitive Erie Canal boat in the distance, and on the opposite wall was a similar figure of Sir Walter Scott. Both of these panels were executed by William Coffee. This building, too, was destroyed by fire, in 1880. Current city hall After the fire, Henry Hobson Richardson, then one of a team of architects working on the nearby state capitol, secured the commission for the replacement city hall after a limited competition between six architects and firms. The budget for the new city hall was $185,000 (); Richardson's design came in just under that. The appointed public committee increased the budget to $204,000 ($) after granite was substituted for brownstone in the design. The new city hall design dates from the period regarded as Richardson's architectural peak. It was similar to others executed in his personal version of the Romanesque style. Architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock described city hall as "one of Richardson's most Romanesque designs" and the building's NRHP nomination adds that its "banded arches, rhythmic fenestration, bold expression of materials and corner placement of the tower are characteristic features of Richardson's work often to be repeated by his followers." Except for the bold asymmetrical placement of the tower, a prime example of Richardson's disregard for architectural correctness known for being one of his best tower designs, the building is noted for its general simplicity and care for small details, especially its intricate carvings. The entranceway is a simple triple-arch loggia; other design elements on the front façade are limited to its windows and a quadruple-arch balcony off the Common Council chamber. It is flanked by multiple tiers of relief sculpture and gargoyles. Most of the stonecutters brought to Albany to work on the capitol were later hired to do the sculptural details on City Hall. Many elements of the exterior design are representations of interior functionality. Because the Common Council chamber is located on the second floor (above the entrance), that story is the same height as the first-floor entrance hall. The tower is essentially windowless because it was meant to be the city archive; a round