Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 96, no. 2478: Articles]: September 11, 1915

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AND NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 11, 1915 ■■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 ■ 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. ■"p HE present County Court House of '■ 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-