Criminal Courts Building (New York City, New York) | courthouse, Art Deco (architecture), movie / film / TV location, 1941_construction

 courthouse, Art Deco (architecture), movie / film / TV location, 1941_construction

313-foot, 20-story Streamline Moderne-style municipal building completed in 1941. Designed by Harvey Wiley Corbett and Charles B. Meyers, it houses the Criminal and Supreme Courts, Legal Aid, offices for the New York City Police Department, Department of Correction, Department of Probation and the Office of the District Attorney for New York County (Manhattan) which has a separate street address & entrance (@ 1 Hogan Place).

The site, formerly known as Collect Pond, had been the location of the old 1894 Criminal Courthouse and the old Tombs prison. The 20-story tower has three wings, and has a skybridge that connects to a 15-story tower, that looks like one of the building's wings. The wings are separated from each other by light courts; on the east elevation fronting Baxter Street, the light court begin above the base. The base is clad in polished beige granite, rising two floors, except for on the east side at the center wing, where it extends three floors. The main facade faces Centre Street, where the two light courts create recessed entry plazas, known as the North and South Entrance Hall. Both plazas are approached by short sets of steps, and have a pair of large, granite-faced, square columns that match the height of the base. Behind the columns, the entrances are framed in polished granite, with high glass Art-Deco transoms. The south and east facades also have entrances, at the center of each elevation. They have granite surrounds; the entry on Hogan Place has a similar Art-Deco transom to the western entrances, while the recessed entry on Baxter Street has different brass and glass decoration above the doorways and on the side walls.

The upper floors are clad in limestone. The taller center tower is stepped, like a ziggurat. The windows and spandrel form vertical bands alternating with the stone piers. Each band has paired windows with a continuous vertical metal mullion between them and interesting wavy spandrels of cast-aluminum that resemble curtains.

On the inside, a hanging clock marks the center of the two-story high marble lobby. There are Art Deco lighting fixtures and metal doors and two grand staircases with ornamental railings. The simple courtrooms have wood wainscoting and Art Deco lighting fixtures.

The similar looking fourth wing to the north is actually a freestanding tower, serving as a jail. With the separate address of 125 White Street, the northern tower was officially named the Manhattan House of Detention for Men (MHD), although still referred to popularly as The Tombs.

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