function / government / city hall
function / government / correctional facility
function / government / courthouse
function / government / fire station
function / government / government offices
function / government / post office
function / government / public works
function / government

• arca custodiae: In ancient Roman architecture, a type of cell for the confinement of prisoners.
• argurokopeion: In ancient Greece, a place where money was coined; a mint.
• assembly chamber: Also see assembly house.
• assembly house: Also see assembly house.
• bargello: Headquarters of an army watch or civil police.
• barrack: A building for the housing of soldiers, police, or groups of workers.
• broletto: A town hall or other municipal building.
• calaboose: A common jail or lockup.
• cancelleria: In Italian, a chancery, or the residence of a chancellor…
• capitol: A building serving as legislative headquarters of a state.
• capitole: In the south of France, a building supposed to represent the Capitol of Rome, or of a province; it being assumed that the principal building of any Roman colony would have that name. The best known of these buildings is the one at Toulouse; it is the palace of the municipality, or Hotel de Ville. The exterior was built in the middle of the eighteenth century.
• chalcidium: A term used by Vitruvius to denote a large building for the administering of justice.
• city hall: The chief public building of a city – that in which the mayor’s office, and generally the chambers of the legislative body, are located, together with offices for other officers, and perhaps some court rooms for city courts…
• comitium: An enclosed place abutting on the Roman Forum where the meetings were held and causes tried.
• consistory: The meeting place of the privy council of the Roman emperors. 2. The meeting place of the assembly of the college of cardinals at Rome. 3. A place where a council meets or where an ecclesiastical or spiritual court is held.
• cote: A small house or cottage.
• council house: Among the American Indians a wigwam, tent, or other structure in which meetings are held to discuss public business of the tribe, or subtribe. The Pueblos used the kiva for such meetings.
• county courthouse: In the U.S., the courthouse for one of the counties. Into which the states are divided…
• county hall: In Great Britain, a public edifice for various county functions, comprising a large hall for public meetings and festivities, accommodation for the county courts and petty sessions, a grand jury room, county clerk’s office, etc.
• courthouse: A building housing law courts.
• curia: The council house in a Roman municipality.
• curiae: The council house in a Roman municipality.
• custom house: A building for receiving custom duties.
• customhouse: A building for receiving custom duties.
• decanicum: A prison in which ecclesiastical offenders were confined.
• dicasterium: In ancient architecture, a tribunal or hall of justice.
• dike-house: Shelter for a diker. 2. Store for materials needed to repair dikes.
• divan: Islamic hall, court, council-chamber, court of justice, or audience-chamber.
• diwan: Islamic hall, court, council-chamber, court of justice, or audience-chamber.
• dogana: In Italian, a customhouse or office building for the collection of taxes on merchandise…
• durbar: In India, an audience hall in the palace of a prince.
• ecclesiasterion: See ekklesiasterion.
• ekklesiasterion: The public hall of a Greek town. 2. The town’s council chamber. 3. A hall for religious meetings.
• Elysee: Official residence in Paris of the President of the Republic of France.
• engine house: In the U.S., a building primarily for housing a fire engine… 2. A building connected with a railway for housing locomotive engines.
• estufa: An underground council chamber of a pueblo.
• ezhuahuac: An Aztec penitential building.
• ferriterium: An ancient Roman prison where slaves were kept in chains.
• fire house: In the U.S., in general, any building for the keeping of the fire-extinguishing apparatus of a municipal fire department. A popular, but not specific term. 2. Same as house place; in allusion to the fact that here alone was a fireplace in early times.
• gallows: See fourches patibulaires.
• gaol: See prison.
• government house: Building for the offices of the main departments of government, especially in English colonies or Commonwealth nations. 2. Governor’s state home, especially in a Crown colony.
• Graecostasis: In the Roman Forum, a platform where the ambassadors from foreign states stood to hear debates and attend ceremonies.
• grepon: A council house of Nicaragua Indians.
• Hotel de Ville: The town hall or city hall.
• house of correction: A prison of a certain class, its exact nature varying according to the law and custom at the community in which it is established.
• hustings: In Great Britain, the temporary structure put up for the purpose of conducting an election and providing a platform for spectators, places for the voters, and offices…
• jail: A building for the confinement of prisoners.
• kashim: An Eskimo assembly house. Written also kashimi.
• kashimi: An Eskimo assembly house. Written also kashimi.
• legislature: The building in which a legislative chamber, or two or more legislative chambers, are accommodated…
• lockup: A building or room for temporary imprisonment.
• long house: A council house of North American Indians.
• mairie: In France, the offices of the chief official of a city.
• mint: A building in which money is coined. Such buildings have not commonly been of much architectural character…
• moneta: In early Rome, a mint or place where money was coined.
• municipal building: A building containing offices for the administration of the affairs of a municipality, – that is, a corporate city, – and hence applied to such a building of any large and important community…
• muniment house: A secure structure or area for storing and displaying important documents, official seals, etc.
• parliament house: See legislature.
• patrol house: In the U.S., a building for housing the apparatus, horses, and men constituting a fire patrol…
• penitentiary: A prison. 2. A small building in which the penitent of a monastic order confined himself. 3. That part of a church to which penitents were admitted during services.
• phylaca: An ancient prison or place of custody.
• police station: The headquarters, or district headquarters, of a police force. It contains, usually, sleeping accommodations for the force and for prisoners, and frequently room for a patrol wagon and stabling for horses.
• post office: A building or office for the mail service.
• prison: A building in which lawbreakers may be confined.
• prutaneion: Also see prytaneum.
• prytaneum: A public hall in ancient Greek states and cities where public officials received and entertained distinguished guests, honored citizens of high public merit, etc. 2. In many ancient Greek towns, a public building consecrated to Hestia and containing the state hearth.
• public building: Any building which the public has a right to enter.
• public utility: Also see public utility.
• rathaus: The building housing the administrative offices of a municipality.
• reformatory: A prison school for juvenile offenders.
• seggio: A council chamber.
• senaculum: An ancient Roman council chamber.
• senate chamber: A hall for the accommodation of a legislative body; specifically, in the United States, a hall for the sittings of the higher branch of a legislature.
• senate house: A building in which a legislature holds its sessions.
• sliding pole: See engine house.
• sophronisterium: Among the ancients a house of correction or workhouse where slaves were confined by their masters and kept at hard labor for offences.
• station house: The headquarters or office of the police force of a district. 2. In the life-saving service, a house on the seacoast, furnished with boats and other appliances for the service.
• tecpan: The Aztec council house, or official house.
• thesaurus: In ancient Greece, a treasury house.
• throne: A seat of state for a sovereign or an ecclesiastical dignitary.
• town hall: A public hall or building, belonging to a town, where public offices are established, the town council meets, the people assemble in town meetings, etc.
• truck house: In the U.S., a building for housing a hook and ladder truck, together with the horses and men for its operation. The building is equipped similarly to an engine house.
• utility: Utilities are the services we use every day from electricity and gas to water. They come to us in pipes and transmission lines from special utility buildings. Some people think these structures are ugly, but other people think they are fun – particularly when they are no longer used and are turned into a playground.
• watchhouse: A police station; a lockup; the headquarters of a police force, especially of night watchmen, provided with cells for the temporary safe keeping of offenders against the peace.
• watch-house: Small structure to shelter paid persons for security purposes, e.g. to guard bleach-greens in Ulster where linen was left out for whitening (unaccountably also called watch-towers), or to afford protection to burial-grounds from the depredations of ‘body-snatchers’. 2. Lock-up. 3. Police-station.
• water works: Also see water works.
• zecca: Italian mint for making coins, e.g. the fine 16th c. example in Venice by Sansovino.