Generally held up as a shining example of bad civic planning; which East Zabrial has no monopoly over but does seem to host more than most places. Massinga Hall was completed in 1174, the pet project of a modest Zabric Baron called Janti Massinga. His intention was to remove some of the bad feeling caused by the Zabric authorities' actions in the recent Civil Wars with a grand gift to the people. Less benevolently, he wanted East Zabrial to steal a march on the war-scarred Triple Cities and maybe even win the federal government back. (Zabrial did a lot of behind-the-scenes lobbying to this end in the latter part of the 1100's before bowing to the inevitable). To these ends he ordered a new assembly hall to be built in a square called The Ladli, which approximately lies in the very heart of the city. The choice of location was deliberate – government buildings had previously been in the genteel north or at least the middle-class south, not the impoverished centre. The hall would also be grand, towering and in the classic Zabric style, with a heavy emphasis on engraved stonework and narrow windows. Its initial functions included hosting Zabrial's regional assemblies on a semi-permanent basis, as well as holding law courts and public meetings.
Laudable sentiments, but problems surrounded Massinga Hall almost immediately. People pointed to the spiralling costs, the impracticality of the final design (which managed to be extremely poorly ventilated) and the fact that the regional assemblies already had a serviceable home in East Zabrial, the Preski. The hall thrived for a little while, but when Janti Massinga was voted out in 1179 the Emissaries gratefully fled back to Tukas Square. And as the political heat gradually rose, more and more officials became reluctant to regularly journey to the centre of the city. Massinga Hall had lost the last of its official functions by the 1250's and was converted into markets and storerooms. Even that proved unsuccessful, beaten into submission by the nearby Gunti Market. As soon as the last of the traders moved out, the squatters moved in. They have effectively kept the building in existence, with the authorities being reluctant to evict them and demolish it. Inside it has become a warren of partitioned, fetid apartments where crime and disease flourishes; and externally it is a filthy, decayed wreck. The federal government stayed where it was.