Editing Independence Hall (section)

==Structure==
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| legend1title = Ground floor of Independence Hall<br>(''right-click links below for room images'')
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|overlay1 = Assembly Room
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|overlay2 = Supreme Court Room
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|overlay4 = Tower Stair Hall
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Independence Hall has a red brick façade, designed in [[Georgian architecture|Georgian style]]. It consists of a central building with belltower and steeple, attached to two smaller wings via arcaded [[hyphen (architecture)|hyphens]]. The highest point to the tip of the steeple spire is {{convert|168|ft|7+1/4|in}} above the ground.

The State House was built between 1732 and 1753, designed by [[Edmund Woolley]] and [[Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)|Andrew Hamilton]], and built by Woolley. Its construction was commissioned by the [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania colonial legislature]] which paid for construction as funds were available, so it was finished piecemeal.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_indhall.htm |title = Independence Hall |publisher = Independence Hall Association |access-date = March 16, 2010 }}</ref> It was initially inhabited by the colonial government of Pennsylvania as its State House, from 1732 to 1799.<ref name=WldHeritageSite>{{cite web |url = http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/independence-hall.html |title = Independence Hall |at = Independence Hall's History |publisher = World Heritage Committee |access-date = March 16, 2010 |archive-date = February 5, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170205160326/http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/independence-hall.html |url-status = dead }}</ref>

In 1752, when [[Isaac Norris (statesman)|Isaac Norris]] was selecting a man to build the first clock for the State House he chose [[Thomas Stretch]], the son of Peter Stretch his old friend and fellow council member, to do the job.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Frazier |first = Arthur H. |title = The Stretch Clock and its Bell at the State House |journal = Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |year = 1974 |volume = 98 |pages = 296 }}</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Replica Thomas-Stretch clock Independence Hall.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Replica of the Thomas Stretch Clock erected at Independence Hall.]] -->

In 1753, Stretch erected a giant clock at the building's west end that resembled a tall clock ([[grandfather clock]]). The {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} limestone base was capped with a {{convert|14|ft|m|adj=on}} wooden case surrounding the clock's face, which was carved by cabinetmaker [[Samuel Harding (cabinetmaker)|Samuel Harding]]. The clock was removed about 1830.<ref name="Frazier 1974 287">{{harvp|Frazier|1974|p=287|ps=.}}</ref> The clock's dials were mounted at the east and west ends of the main building connected by rods to the clock movement in the middle of the building.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Thayer | first1=Theodore | chapter=Town into City, 1746–1765 | title=Philadelphia: A 300 Year History | date=1982 | publisher=W. W. Norton | location=New York | isbn=978-0-393-01610-9 | editor-last1=Weigley | editor-first1=Russell F. |editor-link1=Russell Weigley| editor-last2=Wainwright | editor-first2=Nicholas B. | editor-last3=Wolf | editor-first3=Edwin II | editor-link3=Edwin Wolf II | url=https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig | page=98}}</ref> A new clock was designed and installed by Isaiah Lukens in 1828. The Lukens clock ran consecutively for eight days, "with four copper dials on each side that measured eight feet in diameter and clockworks that ensured sufficient power to strike the four-thousand pound bell made by John Wilbank." The Lukens clock remained in Independence Hall until 1877.<ref>{{cite web |last = Fox |first = Elizabeth |year = 2018 |title = Like Clockwork: The Mechanical Ingenuity and Craftsmanship of Isaiah Lukens |url = https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/2101450353.html?FMT=AI }}</ref>

The acquisition of the original clock and bell by the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly is closely related to the acquisition of the [[Liberty Bell]]. By mid-1753, the clock was installed in the State House attic, but it was six years before Thomas Stretch received any pay for it.<ref>{{harvp|Frazier|1974|p=299|ps=.}}</ref>

===Demolition and reconstruction===
While the shell of the central portion of the building is original, the side wings, steeple and much of the interior were reconstructed much later. In 1781, the Pennsylvania Assembly had wooden steeple removed from the main building. The steeple rotted and weakened to a dangerous extent by 1773. By 1781,the Assembly had it removed and had the brick tower covered with a hipped roof.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = National Park Service |title = Architectural Change over Time |url = http://www.nps.gov/inde/historyculture/places-independencehall-architecture-changeovertime.htm |website = Independence National Historical Park }}</ref> A more elaborate steeple, designed by [[William Strickland (architect)|William Strickland]], was added in 1828.

The original wings and [[Hyphen (architecture)|hyphens]] (connecting corridors) were demolished and replaced in 1812. In 1898, these were in turn demolished and replaced with reconstructions of the original wings.

The building was renovated numerous times in the 19th and 20th century. The current interior is a mid-20th-century reconstruction by the [[National Park Service]] with the public rooms restored to their 18th-century appearance.

During the summer of 1973, a replica of the [[Thomas Stretch#Clockmaker|Thomas Stretch clock]] was restored to Independence Hall.<ref name="Frazier 1974 287"/>

The second-floor Governor's Council Chamber, furnished with important examples of the era by the National Park Service, includes a musical tall case clock made by [[Peter Stretch]], c. 1740, one of the most prominent clockmakers in early America and father of [[Thomas Stretch]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Moss |first = Robert W. |title = Historical Landmarks of Philadelphia |year = 2008 |publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press |location = Philadelphia |pages = 28 }}</ref>

Two smaller buildings adjoin the wings of Independence Hall: [[Old City Hall (Philadelphia)|Old City Hall]] to the east, and [[Congress Hall]] to the west.  These three buildings are together on a [[city block]] known as Independence Square, along with [[Philosophical Hall]], the original home of the [[American Philosophical Society]]. Since its construction in the mid-20th century, to the north has been Independence Mall, which includes the current home of the Liberty Bell.

===Liberty Bell===
{{Main|Liberty Bell}}
[[File:Liberty_Bell,_2016.jpg|thumb|[[Liberty Bell|The Liberty Bell]] (foreground) was housed in the highest chamber of the brick tower from the 1780s until the 1850s]]<!--IMAGE TEMPORARY OFF DISPLAY, until more text can be added, otherwise, throws off images[[Image:Centennial Bell in the Independence Hall Belfry, Philadelphia - Engraving from 1876.jpg|thumb|The Centennial Bell in the Independence Hall Belfry, from an 1876 engraving.]]-->
The lowest chamber of the original wooden steeple was the first home of the [[Liberty Bell]]. When that steeple was removed in the 1780s, the bell was lowered into the highest chamber of the brick tower, where it remained until the 1850s. The much larger Centennial Bell, created for the [[Centennial Exposition]] in [[Philadelphia]] in 1876, hangs in the cupola of the 1828 steeple. The Liberty Bell, with its distinctive crack, was displayed on the ground floor of the hall from the 1850s until 1976, and is now on display across the street in the [[Liberty Bell#Liberty Bell Center|Liberty Bell Center]].
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===Assembly Room===
[[File:Assembly Room, Independence Hall, Philadelphia.jpg|thumb|The Assembly Room, where the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] and  [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] were both authored and adopted in 1776 and 1788, respectively]]

The Assembly Room is the heart of Independence Hall, and is the room where the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] and the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] were signed.
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