Bronx County Courthouse | |
Location | 851 Grand Concourse Bronx, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°49′34″N73°55′27″W / 40.82611°N 73.92417°W |
Built | 1931 |
Architect | Joseph H. Freelander; Max Hausle |
Architectural style | Classical Revival, Neo-Classical |
NRHP reference No. | 83001636 [1] |
NYCL No. | 0928 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 8, 1983 |
Designated NYCL | July 13, 1976 |
The Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, is an historic courthouse building located in the Concourse and Melrose neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City. It was designed in 1931 and built between 1931 and 1934. It is a nine-story limestone building on a rusticated granite base in the Art Deco style. It has four identical sides, an interior court, and a frieze designed by noted sculptor Charles Keck. The sculptures on the 161st Street side are by noted sculptor George Holburn Snowden. Two sculptural groups on the Walton Avenue side are by noted sculptor Joseph Kiselewski. [2] Kiselewski collaborated with Adolph A. Weinman to create the work. The Bronx Museum of the Arts was once located on the main floor. [3] The building stands two blocks east-southeast of Yankee Stadium, and across 161st Street from Joyce Kilmer Park.
While never officially titled 'Borough Hall', the Bronx County Courthouse houses all municipal borough functions, and is listed as a borough hall on maps by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. [4] The previous freestanding Bronx Borough Hall was damaged by fire and torn down in 1969, but had stopped operating in an official capacity long before this.
The first floor's Veterans Memorial Hall houses four 10 ft. by 36 ft. murals, one per wall, by James Monroe Hewlett, depicting historic events in the Bronx. The murals were unveiled in June 1934 and feature the following historical events: [5]
A mural depicting the arrival of Jonas Bronck, considered the founder of the borough, was created in the early 1930s by James Monroe Hewlett. [6] The mural was damaged by workers in August 2013. Many people, including the proprietor of Jonas Bronck's Beer Co and a reported descendant of Laurens Duyts, a Danish farmer who traveled to New Amsterdam with Bronck on his ship Fire of Troy, sought the mural's restoration prior to the 100th anniversary of the Bronx's separation from New York County in 2014. [7]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. [1]
In February 1988, Mayor Edward Koch renamed the Bronx County Courthouse to the Mario Merola Building to honor the late Bronx County District Attorney Mario Merola. [8]
The Bronx is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York City borough of Queens, across the East River. The Bronx is the only New York City borough not primarily located on an island. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km2) and a population of 1,472,654 at the 2020 census, its highest decennial census count ever. If each borough were ranked as a city, the Bronx would rank as the ninth-most-populous in the U.S. Of the five boroughs, it has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density. The population density of the Bronx was 32,718.7 inhabitants per square mile (12,632.8/km2) in 2022, the third-highest population density of any county in the United States, behind Manhattan and Brooklyn. With a population that is 54.8% Hispanic as of 2020, it is the only majority-Hispanic county in the Northeastern United States and the fourth-most-populous nationwide.
Jonas Bronck was an immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Netherland after whom the Bronx River, and by extension, the county and New York City borough of the Bronx are named.
Mott Haven is a primarily residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is generally bounded by East 149th Street to the north, the Bruckner Expressway to the east and south, and the Harlem River to the west, although these boundaries are not precise. East 138th Street is the primary east–west thoroughfare through Mott Haven.
The North Bronx is the northern section of the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is bordered by Westchester County to the north, the South Bronx to the south, the Hudson River to the west and the Long Island Sound to the east. The western part is more urbanized and hilly than its eastern counterpart, just like the rest of the borough. Despite being recognized as different from the South Bronx, the actual borders of the North Bronx is undefined. One commonly set border is Fordham Road/Pelham Parkway, the upper limit for widespread poverty and arson during the 1970s and 1980s.
The Van Cortlandt House, also known as the Van Cortlandt Mansion, is the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx in New York City. It is located in the southwestern portion of Van Cortlandt Park. The house is operated as a historic house museum known as the Van Cortlandt House Museum. Built by Frederick Van Cortlandt and completed in 1749, the house is a 2+1⁄2-story Georgian building with a rubblestone facade and Georgian-style interiors. It served as a residence of one branch of the Van Cortlandt family for 140 years before it reopened as a museum in 1897.
The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueducts, which were among the first in the United States, carried water by gravity 41 miles (66 km) from the Croton River in Westchester County to reservoirs in Manhattan. It was built because local water resources had become polluted and inadequate for the growing population of the city. Although the aqueduct was largely superseded by the New Croton Aqueduct, which was built in 1890, the Old Croton Aqueduct remained in service until 1955.
The Grand Concourse is a 5.2-mile-long (8.4 km) thoroughfare in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Grand Concourse runs through several neighborhoods, including Bedford Park, Concourse, Highbridge, Fordham, Mott Haven, Norwood and Tremont. For most of its length, the Concourse is 180 feet (55 m) wide, though portions of the Concourse are narrower.
Joseph A. Kiselewski was a sculptor. He was born near Browerville, Minnesota, trained in Minneapolis, New York, Paris, and Rome, and had a New York City studio from 1929 to 1980. He continued to work in his Browerville studio until his death.
The West Bronx is a region in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The region lies west of the Bronx River and roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough.
The Bronck House, also known as the Pieter Bronck House, is a historic house museum west of Coxsackie in Greene County, New York. With a construction history dating to 1663, it is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Upstate New York, and is a well-preserved example of early Dutch and Swedish Colonial architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967. It is now a museum property managed by the county historical society.
Jerome Avenue is one of the longest thoroughfares in the New York City borough of the Bronx, New York, United States. The road is 5.6 miles (9.0 km) long and stretches from Concourse to Woodlawn. Both of these termini are with the Major Deegan Expressway which runs parallel to the west. Most of the elevated IRT Jerome Avenue Line runs along Jerome Avenue. The Cross Bronx Expressway interchanges with Jerome and the Deegan. Though it runs through what is now the West Bronx neighborhood, Jerome Avenue is the dividing avenue between nominal and some named "West" and "East" streets in the Bronx; Fifth Avenue, and to a lesser extent, Broadway, also splits Manhattan into nominal "West" and "East" streets.
The Bronx Borough Courthouse, commonly referred to as the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse, is a building in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The courthouse was built between 1905 and 1914 near Boston Road, Third Avenue, St. Anns Avenue, and 161st Street. The 161st Street station of the New York City Subway's IRT Third Avenue elevated was in front of the courthouse. For two decades it housed the Supreme, Surrogate's, and County Courts of the borough until the larger Bronx County Courthouse was built in 1934. The Bronx Branch of the New York City Criminal Court remained here until 1977 when the city formally sealed the doors. It is a National Register of Historic Places listing and a New York City Landmark.
Staten Island Borough Hall is the primary municipal building for the borough of Staten Island in New York City. It is located at 10 Richmond Terrace, next to the Richmond County Courthouse and opposite the St. George Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry. Borough Hall houses the Borough President's office, offices of the Departments of Buildings and Transportation, and other civic offices.
Michael John Garvin, also known as Michael J. Garvin and M. J. Garvin (1861–1918), was an American architect from The Bronx, New York. A graduate of Manhattan College, he served as the first Building Commissioner of the borough (1897–1903) and its first Under Sheriff. With the placement of the influential IRT Third Avenue Elevated train, Garvin was immersed in designing many surrounding structures during the borough's increasing growth at the turn of the 20th century. Of his architectural contributions the Haffen Building; the Fire House, Hook and Ladder 17; and the Bronx Borough Courthouse have all become New York City landmarks while the latter a US National Historic Place.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Westchester County, New York, excluding the city of Peekskill, which has its own list.
There are numerous nationally and locally designated historic sites and attractions in Westchester County. These include architecturally significant manors and estates, churches, cemeteries, farmhouses, African-American heritage sites, and Underground Railroad depots and waystations. There are sites from pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary times, as well as battlegrounds. Westchester County also played an important role in the development of the modern suburb, and there are many associated heritage sites and museums.
James "Monroe" Hewlett was an American Beaux Arts architect, scenic designer, and muralist.
St. Mary's Park is a public park in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the South Bronx section of the Bronx, New York City. The park has sporting facilities and an indoor recreation center.
Concourse is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx which includes the Bronx County Courthouse, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Yankee Stadium. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are East 169th Street to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, East 149th Street to the south, and Jerome Avenue and Harlem River to the west. The neighborhood is divided into three subsections: West Concourse, East Concourse, and Concourse Village with the Grand Concourse being its main thoroughfare.
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