This plan contemplates that the court house would occupy all of the present court house block except the Hall of Records; that it should have a large inner court with court rooms opening upon it; and that the municipal building should be placed on the plaza site.
The available area for the court house would be 147,700 feet. The inner court could be 150 feet by 200 feet with a superficial area of 30,000 feet. The building, if six stories high, could easily have four floors devoted to court rooms. Each floor would afford space for nine court rooms, each forty feet by fifty feet, and one large court room for extraordinary trials, 50 feet by 65 feet. This would make forty court rooms in all and there would be ample space for a jury room and robing room in connection with each court room.
The street noises would be an objection to this site if the court rooms fronted the street. We are advised, however, that the fronting of the court rooms on the inner court would protect them entirely from street noise. Ventilation in so large a building as this would necessarily be furnished by a power system, and would be independent of the movement of outside air. Indeed, it seems to be conceded that a power system succeeds only when windows are not opened and shut at will. Moreover, trials are not held during the hot months of July, August and September. On account of these considerations we are of the opinion that inside court rooms can be fully as comfortable and as well ventilated as if they fronted on the streets. The inner court would be so large that there would be an abundance of sunlight. This would not be the case with the lower stories if the building were fifteen or twenty stories high, but our investigations have shown that with a building not over six stories in height, the sunlight will be abundant.
Careful consideration has been given to the subject of noise during construction. The first portion of the new court house built would be that fronting on Borough Hall Park between the present court house and Court Street. This would be followed in due course by the construction of the Livingston Street front after the Polytechnic Institute would be able to locate in a new place. Later the remaining portion of the new court house would be built where the old court house now stands. It cannot be denied that there would be some inconvenience to court work from construction noise while these successive portions were building, but if the new municipal building is erected within the next few months on the site selected for it adjoining the old court house, there will be the same degree of construction noise. Moreover, wherever the new court house is built, it is almost certain that it will be followed by some new construction in the immediate locality. The main thing is to obtain freedom from noise after construction is over, and we believe that the work of the courts could be conducted in inside court rooms on this site with more quiet than in outside rooms on any of the other sites that have been suggested. We find that the first wing of the new building could be built as a unit providing sixteen to twenty court rooms with all requisite minor rooms and facilities. These would be more court rooms than are now in use. This would afford the needed expansion in connection with the use of the old court house, which has fourteen court rooms. The later completion of the Livingston Street wing would furnish a total of thirty-two court rooms in the new building. This would permit the abandonment of the old court house so that the last wing could be built where the old court house now stands. If the money for the construction of the new court house is appropriated from time to time, as will probably be the case, it will be no disadvantage to have the different parts successively available for construction. Forty new court rooms will not be needed for some years, and there will be a saving of interest to the city if the entire expenditure is not made at one time. The county court now has four court rooms, the supreme court ten, the appellate division one, and the appellate term one—in all sixteen. The act empowering the judges to select a site and approve a court house does not contemplate that the county court will be provided for in the new building. If, however, a forty court room building should be erected, it is evident that the county court should be housed in it or else many of the court rooms would be idle for a long time.
The new court house in Manhattan will provide fifty to sixty court rooms. A new Brooklyn court house containing forty court rooms would provide as much space as is likely to be needed during the next forty years, and the city would hardly care to lose interest on unnecessary space for a longer period. When, however, the civil business transacted in the new court house should need all of the court rooms, the city would probably feel the need of a separate criminal court building in some other part of the borough. It is unlikely that the county court will continue both its civil and criminal terms indefinitely. The tendency in all large cities is to separate civil and criminal trials both as to judges and location.
The new court house in this location would be near the Hall of Records, a comparatively new, sound and dignified building. Both judges and trial lawyers are accommodated by having the real estate, surrogate's and county clerk's records and books near at hand. Part of the large space under the new court house could be used for moisture proof vaults for the storage of obsolete papers that are already crowding the county clerk's office.
The great advantages of this site to the borough are apparent. It holds the court business of the borough in the locality which has for generations become adapted to it. It preserves and improves the present office center. It is the most convenient spot in the city for judges, litigants, lawyers and jurors, and is also the most accessible from the court, municipal and financial centers of Manhattan. The new rapid transit lines will make it more accessible from every part of Greater New York.
The present location of the Polytechnic Institute is not well adapted for educational purposes. Its future growth is circumscribed and probably it is only a question of a few years when another location must be found for this growing institution.
The site for the municipal building on Washington Street, opposite the Post Office, would have an area of approximately 52,000 square feet—being an irregular plot 380 feet by 150 feet. It would be a moderately high office structure and would fit an irregular plot of ground better than the more monumental court house. It would also be adjustable to the site bounded by office buildings with the height of which it would harmonize. The distance of the new municipal building from Borough Hall would be 800 feet. In Manhattan the distance between City Hall and the new municipal building is 640 feet. A station of the new Interborough subway will be near the corner of Fulton and Clark streets. This will be the great Manhattan west side subway, running south from Times Square through Seventh Avenue, Park Place and William Street, thence under the East River at Old Slip, thence through Clark and Fulton streets to the junction with the two tracks under Borough Hall, not now used, but which when used will make Brooklyn's four track subway to Flatbush Avenue, Long Island station, Park Plaza and Eastern Parkway.
Not only will the placing of the municipal building on the Washington Street site allow the much needed widening of that street without extra cost, but the erection of the court house on the present site as provided in this plan will admit of the widening of the streets by which it is bounded, viz., Livingston, Court and Joralemon streets. This consideration is important in view of the concentration of street cars and other traffic at this center of street circulation.