original early 20th century antique american ornamental cast brass chicago city hall building doorknob designed and fabricated by the yale & towne mfg. co., stamford, ct. the office door handle contains a deeply recessed or sunken center surrounded by a highly detailed bayleaf border. nicely aged surface patina left untouched. since 1853, the governments of chicago and cook county have shared three different buildings on this site. the monumental, classical revival-style exterior of the present structure, which was designed to be a functional and efficient office building, symbolizes the strength, dignity, and vigor of the governmental functions it contains. the county building was completed in 1908; city hall was finished in 1911. the architectural firm was holabird and roche. yale & towne fabricated the hardware for the first phase of construction (i.e., cook county building). the sargent hardware company likely outfitted city hall by replicating and/or using the original molds from the earlier commission. measures approximately 2 1/4 inches in diameter.