Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Tweed Courthouse


When I was downtown last weekend I took this picture of the former “Tweed Courthouse” on Chambers Street in Manhattan. Here is some history:
The Old New York County Courthouse, better known as Tweed Courthouse, is architecturally one of New York's greatest civic monuments. Built between 1861 and 1881, it is the product of two of New York's most prominent 19th century architects, John Kellum and Leopold Eidlitz . Tweed is a designated New York City landmark and sections of the interior are designated interior landmarks as well.
The Tweed Courthouse is the legacy of Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed (1823-1878), who used the construction of the building to embezzle large sums from the budget. Boss Tweed was tried in 1873 in an unfinished courtroom in this building and was convicted and jailed. After the Tweed Ring was broken up, work stopped on the building from 1872 to 1876. Construction progressed slowly after the Tweed years, and it was not until 1881 that the building was finally completed. Information from: http://www.nyc.gov/

11 comments:

Dave said...

Thanks for the detail. Its nice to see photos like this of NY as its very easy to get the impression that its all skyscrapers and modern buildings.

Unknown said...

Very nice design, I think I am inlove all over again with New York. Have you ever taken any pictures of the statue of libertry from the torch that is?

Blue Wave 707 said...

Nice architecture photo!

Is that the same courthouse they show on "Law & Order"?

Olivier said...

tres belle architecture, et merci pour tous ces renseignements. Encore un superbe immeuble new yorkais, que NYC me manque ;o)

very beautiful architecture, and thank you for all this information. Still a superb building new yorkais, that I miss NYC; O)

Gudl said...

The building looks majestic (and great in sepia!)

Anonymous said...

Well this is a nice photograph. And the story behind it is also interesting.

Eduardo Waghorn said...

Hey,these are really nice images...
Send you a warm hug from Chile.
Spring here is very near, even showing us her arms:)
Keep blogging

PD If you want, visit my blog of images:

Imagenes y Afiches

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

great piece of information!!! and a nice pic too :)

Lori said...

Hi everyone,

Blue Wave, no it's not the same courthouse as on Law and Order, though I did get a photo of that one too last weekend. It wasn't a very good photo though so I'll to go back another time.

John Roberts said...

I like the toning you used on this one - it works well with the subject.

lv2scpbk said...

I love how you took this photo. Great shot.