Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse (New York City, New York) | skyscraper, 1994 construction, postmodern (architecture)

 skyscraper, courthouse, 1994 construction, postmodern (architecture)

410-foot, 27-story postmodern courthouse completed in 1994. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, it is clad in buff-colored granite. The building is T-shaped, with a 9-story base and lower wing, housing two lobbies linked by a gallery, a jury selection room, cafeteria, auditorium, and a ceremonial court under a vaulted copper roof that extends to Worth Street. The perpendicular tower portion, which houses courtrooms and judges' chambers, fronts Pearl Street.

The main entrance to the lower wing on Worth Street features three brass doors below brass and glass transoms with Art-Deco styled ornament. The top floor, below the vaulted roof, as well as the center three bays of the end facade facing the street, are clad in white marble, in contrast to the granite below. Additionally, the 7th & 8th floors on the sides have white marble panels flanking the windows in each bay. On the southeast side of the lower wing, there is a 2-bay, 7-story extension from the middle of the facade.

On the main tower, both ends are gently curved outwards up to the 18th floor. The top floor curves inward at both ends, framed by end pavilions. The southwest-facing Pearl Street facade and the northeast-facing facade are vertical slabs of 13 bays divided by stone piers, with spandrels of a slightly darker-colored stone.

The building houses the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and was the temporary home of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit while its Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, located across the street, was renovated. It includes public art from Raymond Kaskey and Maya Lin.

Originally called the Foley Square Courthouse, it was renamed after Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a US senator, in 2000. With 974,000 square feet it is the second largest federal courthouse in the United States (behind Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse in St. Louis), housing 44 courtrooms and providing court support and administrative services to the United States Marshals Service and the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.