NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT BUILDING

On my way to the courthouse to serve jury duty last Jan 24, I took photos of the main building of the New York County Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street across from Foley Square. The supreme court is located in several buildings in Manhattan: the main New York County Courthouse building at 60 Centre Street (photos above), and three others at 80 Centre Street (across Worth Street), 111 Centre Street, and 71 Thomas Street. The criminal branch is at 100 Centre Street, shared with the Manhattan Criminal Court, the Office of the District Attorney and other agencies, and at 111 Centre Street, shared with the New York County Civil Court. The Supreme Court in Kings County and in Richmond County are similarly housed in their respective counties. In Richmond County several "Parts" of the Supreme Court are located in the former U.S. Navy Home Port (each Part is usually where one Supreme Court judge sits).

The building houses the Supreme Court and the Office of the County Clerk. It was designed by the well-known Boston architect Guy Lowell who won a competition in 1913 with a design for a round building. The design was altered to a hexagonal form. The Roman classical style chosen was popular for courthouse architecture in the first decades of the 20th century. Lowell also designed the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the building plan for Philips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. He was also a landscape architect and designed formal gardens for Andrew Carnegie and J. Pierpont Morgan in New York. The courthouse rises above a 100-foot wide flight of steps to an imposing colonnade of 10 granite fluted Corinthian columns. Above the columns are engraved words of George Washington: "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." Above this is a triangular pediment, 140-feet long, with 14 classical figures in high relief. Along the huge roofline are three statues representing Law, Truth and Equity. All of the pediment sculpture was carved by Frederick Warren Allen.