Southampton Village Hall

The Village of Southampton was incorporated on July 19th, 1894. This three-story Beaux Arts Municipal Building -- known as Village Hall -- was completed in 1911 as a bold statement of Southampton’s growth and civic pride, its grand four-columned portico and fireproof design reflecting a prosperous and forward-looking community. It replaced an earlier two-story frame post office on Main Street—home to a Chinese laundry as well!—that had become too small by the mid-1880s. That building was moved to the corner of Elm Street and Powell Avenue, where it still stands today. The new building was the result of a special election and an architectural competition won by F. Burrall Hoffmann, then a rising talent who would later design Miami’s famed Villa Vizcaya. It was funded by a $25,000 bond and built by Donnelly and Corrigan beginning in 1910, it opened the following year. Originally this building housed the post office on the first floor, telephone operators above and below, and village offices, courtroom, and public hall on the second floor—serving for years as the heart of Southampton’s civic life as it still does today. From 1917-2002, this building also housed the Village Police Department, until they moved to a new building on Windmill Lane. Today this is the Mayor's office, home of the Village Clerk and Administrator; it's also where Trustee Board Meetings take place and where folks can find a marriage license, birth certificate and get their beach permit.