NYPL Jefferson Market Branch

Jefferson Market Garden; Jefferson Market Courthouse; House of Detention for Women

Description

Originally a courthouse, the Jefferson Market Library has served the Greenwich Village community for over forty years. The building, a New York City landmark, was designed in a Victorian Gothic style. It was erected—along with an adjacent prison and market—it cost the city almost $360,000. There was also a civil court on the second floor, now the Adult Reading Room, and a police court, now the first-floor Children's Room. The beautiful brick-arched basement, now the Reference Room, was used as a holding area for prisoners on their way to jail or trial. Scattered about the building were offices and chambers, and looming a hundred feet above ground was the firewatcher's tower. The tower, still intact, commands an uninterrupted view of Greenwich Village, and houses the bell that would summon volunteer firemen.

Constructed, 1833

The Jefferson Market opened, alongside a police court, a volunteer firehouse, and a jail. The market grew rapidly to include fishmongers, poultry vendors, and hucksters.

Demolished, 1873

The Jefferson Market was razed to make way for a new civic complex and courthouse.

Constructed, 1877

The Jefferson Market Courthouse, with its fire-watch bell tower and lighted clock dial.1895 The ornate courthouse struck the New York Times as inappropriate for such a shoddy neighborhood—“a jewel in a pig’s snout.”

Demolished, 1927

The jail, the market, and the firehouse were demolished.

Constructed, 1931

Replaced by the City’s only House of Detention for Women, an 11-story building designed in the French Art Deco style. By the time the Women’s House of Detention opened in 1931, the adjacent courthouse heard only cases with female defendants. Contemporaries noted the facility’s modern equipment, one of its most striking features being a turntable altar in the chapel, with sections fitted respectively for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services.

Abandoned, 1958

Amendments to the district court system in 1945, through redistricting, the court was no longer held at Jefferson Market, and the building was taken over by various agencies including the Police Academy, which is rumored to have used it for riot training. This group departed in 1958, leaving the courthouse empty, sold by auction in 1959.

Converted, 1967

But Village community members, led by Margot Gayle and Philip Wittenberg, and including Lewis Mumford, E.E. Cummings (who lived across the street in Patchin Place) and actor Maurice Evans, rallied to save the building from the wrecking ball. In 1961, Mayor Robert F. Wagner announced that it would be preserved and converted into a public library. The Board of Estimate transferred the rest of the site to Parks in 1974

Factoids

1895-Voted one of the ten most beautiful buildings in America by a poll of architects (the fifth most beautiful in the United States.)

Related People & Organizations

Thomas Jefferson

Related Sites

Jefferson Market Library Fountain

Images

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Images

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The original Jefferson market opened in 1883

Old Jail behind the Jefferson Market Courthouse, which is now the library, 1877–1929.

Articles from the NYTimes about the Women House of Detention, 1930s

The courthouse building was used for NYPD and NYFD drills, and as the headquarters of the Office of Civil Defense, 1950s.

Articles from The New York Times and The New York Post about the demolition of the jail on the site, 1970s.

The Women's House of Detention, 1931–1973.

A police court, now the first-floor Children's Room

Old Jefferson Market fire tower

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37-24, 24th St, Suite 102, Long Island City, NY 11101