It's unique, but is it a landmark?

Boston's City Hall, an object of scorn that Mayor Thomas M. Menino dislikes so much he wants to bulldoze it, may be the butt of jokes, but it is also now under consideration for official designation as a historic landmark.

Yesterday, the Boston Landmarks Commission took up a petition, backed by a group of architects and preservationists, to grant the building special status. Voting to approve the petition after a hearing last night, the commission added it to a list of candidates for landmark status. The commission plans to study the proposal further before a final vote that could come months to more than a year from now.

"This is a building that is valued, not just by a narrow group of architectural crazies who love concrete, but by people who recognize the historical significance," said Gary Wolf, a Boston architect who is leading the effort. "The arguments for historic and architectural significance overwhelm the subjective dislike for the building."

If the current City Hall is designated a landmark, it would limit the changes that a future developer could make to the building.

Boston, a city with about 83 structures and edifices granted landmark status, has in the past extended its affection for landmarks to all kinds of oddities that have found their way into the city's cultural lexicon, like the Jacob Wirth Restaurant and the former Filene's building, which houses Filene's Basement. But the notion of City Hall being elevated to that kind of status draws strong reactions.

"What?!" exclaimed Keith Morrison, a 21-year-old Northeastern University student, when confronted with the possibility by a reporter yesterday. "You can't make this on the same level as Fenway!"

Or, in the words of David Zraket, a 43-year-old engineer who strolled near City Hall Plaza yesterday: "I've always felt this whole area was a tragedy. For me, it symbolizes what you shouldn't do if you want to make a building aesthetically pleasing."

Still, the building has many fans. And in their petition before the Landmarks Commission yesterday, advocates of the designation argued that City Hall's unique architecture has become a mirror to a city that once produced the racially charged riots over school busing but now has elected Hispanics, blacks, and Asians to positions of power.

Constructed amid the controversial policies of urban renewal, which were behind the razing of Scollay Square where City Hall now stands, the building reflects the "increasingly open social and political arena of the decades since City Hall's completion," the petition's authors wrote. They also point out that a Michelin travel guide calls City Hall "one of the major achievements of contemporary architecture" and gives it two stars as a tourist attraction, more than the one star given to the Paul Revere House, State House, and Public Garden.

In December, Menino proposed that city government be moved to a new City Hall to be constructed on Drydock 4, site of the Bank of America Pavilion on the South Boston Waterfront. He wants to sell the current site to be used as a hub of commerce.

The city has hired Stull and Lee Architects to update the space needs of 43 city departments, and city officials are hoping to have planners and architects begin designing the new City Hall by midsummer.

The Landmarks Commission was established in 1975 to designate and oversee the preservation of Boston properties that they find have "historic, social, cultural, architectural, or aesthetic significance." They also have the power to prevent the demolition of buildings.

If the commission later votes to approve landmark status, the designation would also need to be approved by the City Council and the mayor.

Yesterday's petition was endorsed by several prominent figures, including Stanford Anderson, an architectural historian and professor at MIT; Henry Lee, president of the Friends of the Public Garden; and Douglass Shand-Tucci, who has written several books about Boston's architecture.

Professors, architects, and architectural organizations from around the country also submitted letters in favor of preserving the building. City Council President Maureen Feeney wrote in support of the efforts.

"There is little debate that its 200 million pounds of concrete and steel is a great physical and defining presence in Government Center," she wrote. "In history and architecture, its national awards stand as credentials to its significance as a masterpiece, albeit a rather less than aesthetically pleasing one to many an untrained eye."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.