Municipal Architecture is shown in the buildings used for municipal purposes, such as town-halls, guildhalls, &c. These were first built when the towns of the middle ages rose in importance, and asserted their freedom. Those of North Italy and Belgium were the first to move, and consequently we find in these countries the earliest and most important specimens of municipal architecture during the middle ages. Municipal buildings always partake of the character of the architecture of the period when they were erected. In Italy, for instance, they are of the Italian-Gothic style in Vicenza, Venice, Florence, &c. during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. In Belgium, during the same period, they are of the northern Gothic style, and are almost the only really fine specimens of the civil architecture of the middle ages now extant. The Cloth-hall at Ypres, and the town-halls of Brussels, Louvain, Bruges (see BELFRY), Oudenarde, the Exchange at Antwerp, and many other markets, lodges, halls, &c. testify to the early importance of the municipal institutions in Belgium. We look for town-halls in vain in France or England till the development of industry and knowledge had made the citizens of the large towns so wealthy and important as to enable them to raise the municipal power into an institution. But from the 15th and 16th centuries there exist in Britain abundant instances of buildings erected for the use of the guilds and corporations and the municipal courts. Many of the corporation halls in London have recently been rebuilt by the wealthy bodies they belong to, such as the Fishmongers, Merchant Taylors, Goldsmiths, and other companies (see also GUILDHALL). Municipal buildings on a large scale for the use of the town-councils and magistrates have also been recently erected in many large towns in Britain; and now no town of importance is complete without a great town-hall for the use of the inhabitants.
It is a curious fact that in France, where the towns became of considerable importance during the middle ages, so few municipal buildings remain. This arises from the circumstance that the resources of the early municipalities of France were devoted to aid the bishops in the erection of the great French cathedrals, and the townspeople used these cathedrals as their halls of assembly, and even for such purposes as masques and amusements.