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AND
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 11, 1915
â– â– IIIIIIIIIIIIII
I
THE COURT HOUSE BOARD DEFENDED
How the Plan for a Modest Court House Grew and Grew
and Grew Until It Rivaled the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
I By HON. WILLIAM M. BENNETT |
I Senator 18th District, New York State â–
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM^^^^^^^^
£T' HE history of the new court hcnise and the
civic center proceedings is the history of
many State and Municipal public improve¬
ments. Beginning in a modest loay they gt-mo
hy leaps ami bounds until a proposition simple
and inexpensive at first becomes a costly and
extravagant proceeding. Seiialor Bennett lias
w-rittcn for the Real Estate Board for publica¬
tion in pamphlet form an extended history—
he calls it an "obituary"—. of the project, from
which tlie Record and Guide is permitted lo
make excerpts, while regretting itiability to
print the -ichole. The author acquits the Court
House Board of responsibility for the selec¬
tion of the site.
â– "p HE present County Court House of
'â– New York County, built while Mr.
Tweed v/as in control, was improperly
designed and badly built, and in time
became crowded, and because of lack
of modern sanitary, improvements, un¬
healthy. As a result of the complaints
from the Bench and the Bar and the
pulilic generally, an act was passed in
1903 by the Legislature and accepted by
the city, providing that the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment of the
City of New York should, before June 1,
1903, determine whether the present
County Court House, located in the City
Hall Park, afforded accommodations
suitable and adequate for the proper
transaction therein of the future busi¬
ness of the special and trial terms of
the Supreme Court, appointed to be held
in the County of New York, and the
City Court of the City of New York,
and the Commissioner of Jurors.
The act further provided that, unless
the Board of Estimate and Apportion¬
ment determined by resolution before
June 1, 1903, that such existing Court
House Building was suitable and ade¬
quate, the Mayor should appoint five
persons, to be known as the "Court
House Board," which board should pro¬
ceed with all convenient speed to locate
a court house site south of Franklin
street in Manhattan Borough.
The act also provided that if it were
determined to make the City Hall Park
the site for such a building, then the
present City Court Building and the fire
engine house, at that time located in
the park, should be removed and that
the present Court House should either
be removed or remodeled and enlarged.
.\nd the act further provided that no
Iniilding should be erected in City Hall
Park that would occupy a larger super¬
ficial area than the aggregate area of
the then e.xisting court house, the said
Brown Stone Building, now occupied by
the City Court, the fire engine house and
the building formerly used for the Reg¬
ister's Office.
William L. Bull, William N. Cohen,
Charles A. Peabody, Edward W. Shel¬
don, Charles S. Fairchild and David B.
Ogden later were appointed commission¬
ers under this act and organized imme¬
diately as the Court House Board.
Board Recommends Remodeling.
This was the beginning of the court
house proposition. The board began
work at once and examined the various
available sites and obtained appraisals
H0.\. WILLIAM M. BENNETT.
and estimates of cost. The majority of
the members of this original board fa¬
vored the remodeling of the old court
house with an extension, taking in the
sites occupied by the buildings men¬
tioned in this act; and if their idea had
been carried out it would have resulted
in the furnishing of all the necessary
additional accommodations needed at a
cost not exceeding $2,000,000.
At the time, it was stated that an esli-
mate of the cost of remodeling the
court house and building an extension
showed that the cost would not e.xceed
$2,000,000. If this sensible proposition
had been adopted the project would have
been completed by 1905 and the entire
cost to the city for interest and amor¬
tization for court house facilities suf¬
ficient for many years to come would
not have exceeded $90,000 a year.
Outside Influence Interferes.
When the proposition was broached,
however, there was an immediate storm
of protest from that class of people who,
although they may not even be residents
of the city, feel that they have its pres¬
ent and future interests entirely in their
c)ial-ge. To them there was only one
question to be considered, the esthetic
one. The convenience of lawyers and
litigants and the cost to the city were
matters of no importance. For years
Ihey had for some reason idealized the
plot known as City Hall Park with its,
to them, exquisite City Hall, and any
attempt to erect a modern, convenient
and inexpensive Iniilding in this plot for
the convenience of the public would be
vandalism, although, as we have hither¬
to said, the plan would not have taken
any more of the park space than was
then already occupied by buildings.
As a result of their efforts the propo¬
sition to build an inexpensive hut all-
sufficient court house in City Hall Park
without taking any additional park space
was abandoned and an act was passed
in 1905, which was also accepted by the
city, providing that, if such court house
should be located in the park, the Court
Plouse Board should acquire land con¬
tiguous to the park of the same area as
the space to be occupied by the court
house, which additional land should be
annexed to the park as a part thereof.
To enable the Court House Board lo
Iniild in City Hall Park, under this act,
they would be compelled to purchase a
similar area in what was at that time
one of the most expensive real eslat-^
sections of Greater New York, and the
cost was almost prohibitive.
In this actidn of the Legislature for the
first time was the civic center idea en¬
acted into law. It was this idea originac-
ing in the organizations to which we
have heretofore referred, and encour¬
aged by one of the present members
of the Board of Estimate, which has
made all the trouble and wholly un¬
necessary expense in securing additional
accommodations for the transaction of
the legal business of the city.
The commissioners, acting under the
new law, began again to look for a site,
always hampered, however, by the ex¬
travagant idea of a civic center to sur¬
round the new court house. Site after
site was taken up, examined, appraised,
and finally abandoned, and this contin-
iied until 1910, when, in response to pub¬
lic clamor for a settlement of the matter.
Chapter 9 of the Laws of 1910, accepted
by the city, was enacted. This gave the
Court House Board power to select as
large a site as they deemed necessary
and also authorized them to close and
include in any site selected such streets
as might intersect such site, or any
land contiguous thereto.
A further act. Chapter 556 of tlie Laws
of 1910, accepted by the city, gave them
power to add, from time to time, to any
selected site, such additional lands and
buildings or interest therein as the board
might deem advisable. With this greatly
increased power it was thought that the
board might reach a conclusion. At this
time the original board resigned and a
new board was appointed.
The Board of Estimate's Selection.
Even then the new board would not
bring itself to the idea of causing the
city to buy an expensive site, and in
1911 another act. Chapter 880, also ac¬
cepted by the city, was passed which
provided that the Board of Estimate and
.'\pportionment should for six months
have the exclusive power to select a
site.
It was now that the civic center idea
became the paramount proposition, and
as the dreams of those in authority grow,
additional power was later asked for. Be¬
fore the termination of the six months
named in Chapter 880 of the Laws of
1911, the Board of Estimate selected a
site at Center and Duane and Worth
.streets and City Hall place, and proceed¬
ings in condemnation were begun im¬
mediately. I As a result the city ac¬
quired title to land at a cost of ?6.243,-
660, which amount was paid in 1914.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly
that it was not the Court House Board,
but the city administration in the per-