Town Hall, Hamburg: View of eastern facade of the Rathaus

The old city hall was destroyed in the great fire of 1842. Although plans to replace the Rathaus were underway in 1843, it was not rebuilt until 1886-1897, when a collaborative group of architects under Martin Haller created a new building in the historicist style. It still houses its original governmental functions with the office of the First Mayor of Hamburg and the meeting rooms for Hamburg's parliament and senate (the city's executive).