late 1890's original unrestored antique american ornamental cast iron interior office door hardware salvaged from the c. 1895 milwaukee city hall building. the emblematic and/or monogrammed doorknob with matching decorative backplate was manufactured by the chicag hardware co., chicago, il. the original bower-barff "rust proof" finish remains largely intact. milwaukee's city hall was finished in 1895, at which time it was the tallest building in the united states. the city hall's bell tower, at 353 feet, also made it the third tallest structure in the nation, behind the washington monument and the then-incomplete philadelphia city hall. the hall was milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the us bank center in 1973. milwaukee city hall was designed by architect henry koch in the german renaissance revival style, based on both german precedent (the hamburg rathaus, or city hall), and local examples (the pabst building, demolished in 1980). due to milwaukee's historic german immigrant population, many of the surrounding buildings mirror this design. the foundation consists of 2,584 white pine piles which were driven in to the marshy land surrounding the milwaukee river. the upper part of the tower was rebuilt after a fire in october 1929. the bell in city hall was named after solomon juneau, milwaukee's first mayor. it was designed and crafted by the campbells, who were early pioneers in creating diving chambers and suits near the great lakes area during that time. city hall is the scene of the largest socialist victory ever registered in an american city, when in 1910 emil seidel and a majority socialist common council swept into office. although the socialist majority on the common council was short-lived, the city was led by socialist mayors from 1916 to 1960. mayor daniel hoan (1916-1940) and his successor frank zeidler (1948-1960) did little to advance the cause of socialism in general, but their tenures in office were marked by an emphasis on provision of services for the working class. city hall was the marketing symbol of milwaukee until the completion of the calatrava wing of the milwaukee art museum in 2001, but the bell tower continues to be used as a municipal icon and in some traffic and parking signs. formerly the tower had a welcome milwaukee visitors message on the front three sides; this was one of the iconic images of the opening sequence for locally-set laverne and shirley.