 In 1902, the Common Council room was demolished to build a new courtroom, designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Brooklyn architect Axel Hedman.In the 1930s, proposals began to circulate about knocking down Borough Hall, based on the arguments that it no longer performed any government function, that its architecture wasn't particularly notable, and that it was a monument to an extremely brief era in Brooklyn's history.While numerous proposals were put forth, the building survived.