City Hall

Last crawled date: 3 years, 9 months ago

The building now known as the City Hall was built between 1813 and 1815 by Aaron Cardozo, a wealthy businessman and friend of Nelson, as his family home. It was a prime site, overlooking the City walls and forming the West side of the Parade, or 'Almeida' (now John Mackintosh Square). In 1839 it became the Club House Hotel, and Gibraltar’s leading hotel. It housed many eminent guests, including Prince Adalbert of Prussia. In 1875 the building was sold to Pablo Antonio Larios, a businessman of Spanish origin. Pablo promptly made it available to Queen Victoria’s third son, the Duke of Connaught. In 1920, Larios sold the building to the Government for £39,500. The intention was to convert the building to a general post office, but funds were lacking, and only the ground floor housed a parcels post office. In 1924, the first City Council was elected, and Cardozo’s building became the City Hall, by which name it is still known, although the City Council has long given way to the Government of Gibraltar. From 1924 to 1926, the City Council built over the 3rd floor flat roof and strengthened the floor to withstand the weight of Gibraltar's first Automatic Telephone Exchange ( of type Strowger Step by Step). Today this floor is the location of Gibtelecom’s microprocessor controlled wire-line Telephone Exchange. #Cardozo #City_Council #CIty_Hall #Club_House_Hotel #Duke_of_Connaught #Gibtelecom #Larios #Prince_Adalbert_of_Prussia