Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse
The Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse (originally the United States Courthouse or the Foley Square Courthouse) is a 37-story courthouse at 40 Centre Street on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1936, the building was designed by Cass Gilbert and his son, Cass Gilbert Jr., in the Classical Revival style. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York hear cases in the courthouse, which is across the street from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City designated landmark.
Location
1932–1936
Cass Gilbert, Cass Gilbert Jr.
06101.003318
0883
September 2, 1987
August 2, 1982[2]
March 25, 1975
The building is divided into two parts: a six-story base and a 31-story office tower. The facade of the structure is made of gray Minnesota granite. The base of the courthouse, built around three interior courtyards, occupies an irregular lot. The main entrance on Centre Street contains a portico accessed by massive granite steps, while the remainder of the base contains flat pilasters. A square tower, recessed from the base, rises to a small setback on the 27th floor and a pyramidal roof above the 30th. The main hall, spanning the width of the building along Centre Street, is decorated with marble floors and walls and a coffered ceiling. The building also contains 35 courtrooms, as well as a double-height library on the 25th floor.
The courthouse was proposed in 1928 because of overcrowding at the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse. Construction began in July 1932 and lasted three and a half years; it was among the first federal skyscrapers constructed. After Gilbert's death, his son Cass Gilbert Jr. supervised construction. The building opened on January 15, 1936, and was renovated in the 1990s. The United States Congress passed a bill renaming the building in honor of former United States Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in 2001, and the courthouse was rededicated on April 15, 2003. The building underwent extensive renovations from 2006 to 2013.
Site[edit]
The United States Courthouse is in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. It occupies most section of the city block bounded by Centre Street and Foley Square to the northwest, Pearl Street to the north, Cardinal Hayes Place to the southeast, and St. Andrews Plaza to the south. The irregularly shaped land lot covers 74,180 square feet (6,892 m2), with a frontage of 205.58 feet (63 m) on Pearl Street and a depth of 381.25 feet (116 m).[3] The courthouse is flanked by two high-rise government buildings: the Manhattan Municipal Building to the south and the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse to the north. Adjacent to the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, and also facing Foley Square, is the New York County Courthouse to the north.[4][5] The building also abuts St. Andrew Church to the southeast and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York, jail to the east.[4]
Historically, the site of the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse was occupied by the southern portion of Collect Pond.[6][7] By the mid-19th century, slums and tenements had been developed in the area, which had become known as Five Points. The area was redeveloped into the Civic Center in the early 20th century, with the construction of various city government buildings there.[7] Just prior to the construction of the present courthouse, the site had contained the New York City Board of Health building.[8]
Architecture[edit]
Exterior[edit]
The building has two major parts: an irregular six-story base and a square tower with a lantern. In total, the building is 590 feet (180 m) tall and 37 stories.[5] On all elevations of the facade, the building is clad with off-white Minnesota granite, mottled with peach and gray colors.[22][50] The building's windows largely consist of single-glazed panes, coated with a blast-resistant film.[49]
Impact[edit]
The courthouse was not unanimously well received when it was completed. Modernist architecture proponent and sociologist Lewis Mumford called it "the supreme example of pretentiousness, mediocrity, bad design and fake grandeur."[4][5] Christopher Gray of The New York Times wrote: "The total composition, seen from Foley Square, is impressive but not inspirational."[5] On the other hand, Lee E. Cooper of the Times wrote in 1935: "This is the type of work in which the designer of the Woolworth Building took great pride," referring to how Gilbert had also designed the Woolworth Building nearby.[23] Paul Goldberger of the same paper wrote that the United States Courthouse's staircase, along with that of the neighboring New York County Courthouse, "create a strong urban order that gives definition to the east side of Foley Square".[57]
The front steps of the Federal Courthouse, along with that of the neighboring New York County Courthouse, have also been used as a filming location. Court administrator Steven Flanders told The Wall Street Journal in 1989: "The steps are where fantasy and reality seem to merge into a spectacle that the public can't resist."[58]
Notes
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