The City Hall is a gem of a building sitting aside a wonderful city park. The town itself is being revitalized with a lot of modern chain stores, but the downtown still holds its historic charm. Sadly, like so many valley towns in California it is suffering from these terrible economic times.
The building was originally the City’s historic administration building and was completed in 1918 to serve as the Colony of Atascadero’s headquarters. The Colony was founded by Edward Gardner (E.G.) Lewis of Missouri, as California’s first master planned community. The community was to be sustainable and progressive. The 65,000 square foot Italian renaissance-style structure was designed by prominent San Francisco architect W. D. Bliss, as commissioned by E. G. Lewis, and was inspired by the buildings located at the 1904 World Exposition in St. Louis, MO. The edifice is one of a very few double-domed (rotunda) buildings in the state. The building is a registered state and national historic monument.
On December 22, 2003, the 6.5 magnitude San Simeon earthquake closed the building.