Tweed Courthouse

Story

The Old New York County Courthouse at 52 Chambers Street in Manhattan, New York City, more commonly known as the Tweed Courthouse, was built in Italianate style with Romanesque Revival interiors, using funds provided by the corrupt William M. "Boss" Tweed, whose Tammany Hall political machine controlled the city and state governments at the time.The outer shell of the building was constructed from 1861–1872 by the architect John Kellum, with the political appointee Thomas Little. Construction was interrupted when the kickbacks and corruption involved in the construction of the building were disclosed to the public.The project was completed by architect Leopold Eidlitz who added the rear wing and interior renovations from 1877–1881, departing from Kellum's classicism with "an American version of organic architecture expressed through medieval forms".The building was designated a New York City landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places, both in 1984, when it was called "one of the city's grandest and most important civic monuments". It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1986.