King Plaza and City Hall

Palo Alto's City Hall is easy to find. At 10 stories it rises above the low downtown blocks of Hamilton Avenue, a pale tower among Spanish Revival storefronts. Most visitors walk past it on the way to dinner. Look again and there is more going on. The plaza out front, King Plaza, has become the city's stage for new public art. Inside, the City Council meets most Monday nights and anyone can walk in and speak.

This page covers the building, the plaza and its art and what you need to know to attend a council meeting. For how the government itself works, read our guide to Palo Alto city government.

The building

Before this tower, the city's offices were on Newell Road. From 1953 they filled the midcentury building that is now the Palo Alto Art Center. In 1965 the council decided to build closer to downtown. The chosen site on Hamilton Avenue held the city's 1904 Carnegie library, which was torn down in 1967.

The new City Hall was completed in 1970. It was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Associates, the firm of one of the best-known American architects of the era. Stone had already shaped Palo Alto with the 1958 main library on Newell Road, now Rinconada Library. The tower stands back from Hamilton Avenue, with the plaza filling the space between the building and the sidewalk. Our architecture guide places it in the city's design story, from Birge Clark's storefronts to the Eichlers.

Inside are the council chambers, the city manager's office, the City Clerk and most of the public counters residents use. Downtown has few tall buildings, so the tower doubles as a landmark. If you get turned around on the side streets, look up and head for it.

King Plaza

The open plaza in front of the tower is King Plaza. The city names it for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. It is an open civic space with room for a crowd, which is why it hosts gatherings and ceremonies as well as art.

Several traditions use it. Chabad of Palo Alto has held a public menorah lighting in front of City Hall for about four decades, usually on or near the first night of Hanukkah. In 2026 Hanukkah begins at sundown on Friday, December 4. During the city's Code:ART festival, artists have projected work onto the City Hall facade after dark. The next Code:ART is set for October 13 to 16, 2027. Our holiday guide lists December events downtown.

The King Artist Residency and its art

In November 2020 the City Council asked the Public Art Commission to develop permanent public art on King Plaza reflecting the city's commitment to race and equity. The commission chose a different model: a standing artist residency that brings new work to the plaza in turn. The city launched the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Artist Residency in 2021 as a permanent platform for conversations about equity, inclusion and belonging through the arts.

So far the residency has produced a series of temporary works:

1. Rayos Magos, the first resident. The San Jose-born artist began in early 2022, working from a studio at Cubberley Community Center. His project, Rituals of Resilience, gathered stories about belonging and mental health during the pandemic. It led to Te Veo, Te Escucho, Te Honro (I See You, I Hear You, I Honor You), a seven-foot yellow aluminum sculpture with papel picado-style cutouts, installed on the plaza in early 2023.
2. Aleo Landeta. A later resident whose artwork the city celebrated with an event on King Plaza.
3. Kiana Honarmand, 2025 to 2026. Her interactive piece Luminous Ties was installed on October 27, 2026. The city lists a public unveiling on Thursday, November 5, 2026, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and says the work stays on view through summer 2027.

Temporary art on the plaza is not new. Samuel Yates's The Color of Palo Alto, commissioned for King Plaza, was on display from 2003 to 2009. For permanent pieces around downtown, see our public art guide and the city's King Artist Residency page.

Attending a council meeting

The City Council's regular meetings are on the first, second and third Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Special meetings are added as needed. Meetings take place in the Council Chambers or the Community Meeting Room at City Hall and on Zoom at the same time. Anyone can attend in person without registering.

Speaking is simple:

• In person. Fill out a speaker card and give it to the City Clerk before the council reaches your item.
• Remotely. Join through the Zoom link on the agenda or by phone.
• In writing. Email the council before the meeting. Written messages become public records.

Comments are generally limited to three minutes. Agenda packets are posted on the City Clerk's council page well before each meeting. Big items, such as housing plans or Cubberley, can draw long lines of speakers and run late into the night.

Three council seats are on the November 3, 2026 ballot, so the council's makeup may change in January 2027. Our voting guide covers the election.

A short visit

You can see the plaza and its art in ten minutes, at any hour. A few ways to make more of it:

1. Come in daylight for the art. Take a close look at the current residency piece. Luminous Ties is billed as interactive, so follow any posted instructions and join in.
2. Return after dark during Code:ART. Projections on the tower are the most striking way to see the building.
3. Sit in on a meeting. Even 30 minutes of public comment tells you a lot about what the city is arguing over.
4. Pair it with a walk. The plaza is a natural start or end point for a downtown architecture loop.

Around the plaza

City Hall sits a few minutes on foot from the heart of downtown. Ramona Street's car-free block and its Spanish Revival courtyards are around the corner. Birge Clark's 1932 post office is a short walk along Hamilton at number 380. One block north, University Avenue leads to Lytton Plaza, home of the city's holiday tree lighting. Our downtown architecture walk links all of these in about two hours.

The Palo Alto Caltrain station is about half a mile away, so City Hall is easy to reach without a car. Restaurants line Hamilton, Emerson and Ramona for dinner before or after a meeting.

Frequently asked questions