One of City Hall’s best-kept secrets isn’t what happens on the first two floors of the centuries-old building — it’s that there’s a rarely trafficked third floor.
The oddly shaped space — essentially a large square with its center carved out by the circle of City Hall’s dome — houses the offices of the Design Commission.
The floor is at the top of a tucked-away flight of 38 stairs and recently got a new look after three years of renovations.
But it’s not like there are many people to admire its upgrade — it only gets visitors at public meetings 15 times a year.
In fact, “I don’t remember ever seeing visitors,” said former Design Commission board President Reba White Williams, who served in the ’90s under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“There wouldn’t have been much to see in my time, and it was a tough climb to reach the space.”
The 11 board members of the commission — experts in various fields of art who serve pro-bono — approve all of the permanent art and architecture designed for city-owned property.
That includes everything from the hundreds of sculptures in city parks, to the layout of a Bronx basketball court, to expanding The High Line.
Former and current workers of the five-employee agency say the commission had been the ignored stepchild of City Hall — evidenced by its previously dumpy digs — until Mayor Bloomberg came along.
“From the beginning of his administration, he made it clear that the design of public works was a priority,” said Jackie Snyder, executive director of the commission.
The agency boasts a pristine wooden secretary from 1790, housed in the corner of a board room where public meetings are held around an antique wooden table.
It also features the green sofa from the fictional mayor’s office in the movie “Ghostbusters,” which was filmed inside the real City Hall.
Williams said that in her time, “far from being interested in upgrading or beautifying the space, the administration I worked with was often considering taking it over for other uses.”
She said a typical comment from a top administration official back then was, “The mayor and I don’t believe in all this art and architecture bulls–t.”
The agency moved into City Hall in 1914, taking over the third-floor apartment of the building’s custodian — who wasn’t eager to leave, according to staffers.
He refused to go and had to be forcibly carried out on a chair.
Much of the recent renovation — part of the lengthy $150 million rehabilitation of City Hall — addressed structural deteriorations that were hidden from view.