New York County Courthouse

New York County Courthouse in 2006

The New York County Courthouse facing Foley Square in lower Manhattan in New York City houses the Civil Term and the Appellate Term of New York State Supreme Court for the state's First Judicial District, which is coextensive with Manhattan, as well as offices of the County Clerk.

Architecture

The granite-faced hexagonal building, at 60 Centre Street, was designed by Guy Lowell of Boston in classical Roman style and opened in 1927. A broad set of steps sweeps up from Foley Square to a massive Corinthian colonnade covering most of the front of the courthouse, topped by an elaborate 140-foot-long (43 m) triangular pediment of thirteen figures carved in bas relief from granite.^[1] The pediment and acroteria by Frederick Warren Allen include three statues: Law, Truth and Equity. A frieze bears the inscription "The True Administration of Justice is the Firmest Pillar of Good Government", a 1789 quotation attributed to George Washington. Its mass and scale give the building the appearance of a temple. It replaced the former New York County Courthouse on Chambers Street, popularly known as the Tweed Courthouse.^[2][3][4]

The rotunda contains the oft-reproduced and recently restored mural Law Through the Ages.^[5] Attilio Pusterla painted a number of murals in the rotunda in the 1930s under sponsorship from the Federal Art Project.^[4]. The mural is divided into six sections, each depicting a pair of figures from historical cultures important to the history of law: Assyrian and Egyptian, Hebraic and Persian, Greek and Roman, Byzantine and Frankish, English and early colonial, with the final section portraying George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Above the seated figures are portraits of six lawgivers: Hammurabi, Moses, Solon, Justinian, Blackstone and John Marshall.^[6]

The courthouse was designated a New York City Landmark in 1966.

Location

The building is somewhat of an older sibling to Cass Gilbert's 1936 Corinthian-columned U.S. Courthouse just to its south, which also faces Foley Square from the east. Both buildings face Federal Plaza across the square, which includes the more modern courthouse for the U.S. Court of International Trade. Other court buildings are nearby, including those for New York City Criminal Court and New York City Civil Court, and the Surrogate's Courthouse.

References

1. ^ http://fwallen.com/new-york-supreme-courhouse-pedimen/
2. ^ Paul Goldberger, The City Observed: New York: A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan. New York: Vintage Books, 1979, p. 34. ISBN 0-394-72916-1
3. ^ New York State Supreme Court, New York County - Civil Branch , A Brief History of the Court. Accessed April 12, 2011
4. ^ ^{a b} DCAS Managed Public Buildings, New York State Supreme Courthouse. Accessed April 12, 2011
5. ^ New York State Supreme Court, New York County - Civil Branch, Court Tours. Accessed April 12, 2011
6. ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission, March 24, 1981. Accessed September 2, 2011.