Hudson County Courthouse
Encyclopedia
The Hudson County Courthouse or Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Courthouse is located in Jersey City, New Jersey
. The six-story structure was originally built between 1906 and 1910 at a cost of $3,328,016.56. It is considered to be an outstanding example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style
in the United States
.
The courthouse was used as the primary seat of government for Hudson County
from its opening on September 20, 1910 until the construction of the Hudson County Administration Building in 1966. The courthouse was vacant for many years and was scheduled for demolition
. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on August 25, 1970. Restoration began in the mid-1970s, and the building was reopened in 1985. In 1984, the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders
renamed the building in honor of Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan Jr. The restoration of the courthouse was acknowledged by a Victorian Society in America Preservation Award in 1988.
As of 2011, the courthouse has seven working courtrooms and also houses the offices of the County Executive
and the Hudson County Bar Association
; in the past it has been used in a number of television programs and movies, including scenes in the television series Law & Order
, and for commercials.
. Roberts, brother-in-law of future United States Senator
and New Jersey Governor Edward I. Edwards, received a direct appointment as architect. No competition or bidding for designs was held, causing controversy among local architects. The property on which the courthouse stands was obtained from fourteen separate property owners between 1905 and 1914. The groundbreaking
took place on March 21, 1906 and the cornerstone
was laid on December 12, 1906. Construction of the building was done by Wells Brothers of New York City
and construction of the interiors and finishes were by John Gill & Son of Cleveland, Ohio
.
The courthouse is constructed of granite quarried in Hallowell, Maine
. The front of the building is visually dominated by four Corinthian columns
and a frieze
above the main entrance bearing the inscription "Precedent Makes Law; If You Stand Well, Stand Still."
Roberts delegated the assignment of artwork to the muralist Francis David Millet, noted for his work as decorations director for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago
; Millet assigned himself two lunette
s on the third floor and a dozen small panels in the second floor corridors. Also on the third floor, Millet assigned two lunettes to Charles Yardley Turner
, as well as eight more to Kenyon Cox
. Cox also provided the groined
ceilings. Edwin Blashfield
painted the glass dome
and the four pendentive
s between its supporting arch
es. The Tudor-style legislative chamber of the Board of Freeholders on the second floor was adorned with murals by Howard Pyle
depicting early life of the Dutch and English in New Jersey. This room has been called "one of the handsomest legislative chambers in the United States."
David G. Lowe, writing in American Heritage
magazine, described the interior of the building:
in the building. Conrad led a citizens group that lobbied for the preservation of the building, and got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The award-winning restoration project resulted in the courthouse being reopened in 1985 for the use of the civil courts and other county offices.
decision in Texas v. Johnson
, which Brennan authored, veterans groups petitioned unsuccessfully to have the name removed, but the Freeholders unanimously voted to retain the name.
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. The six-story structure was originally built between 1906 and 1910 at a cost of $3,328,016.56. It is considered to be an outstanding example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The courthouse was used as the primary seat of government for Hudson County
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
from its opening on September 20, 1910 until the construction of the Hudson County Administration Building in 1966. The courthouse was vacant for many years and was scheduled for demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on August 25, 1970. Restoration began in the mid-1970s, and the building was reopened in 1985. In 1984, the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Board of Chosen Freeholders
In New Jersey, the Boards of Chosen Freeholders are the county legislatures in each of that state's 21 counties.- Origin :New Jersey's system of naming county legislators "freeholders" is unique in the United States...
renamed the building in honor of Supreme Court Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
William J. Brennan Jr. The restoration of the courthouse was acknowledged by a Victorian Society in America Preservation Award in 1988.
As of 2011, the courthouse has seven working courtrooms and also houses the offices of the County Executive
County executive
A county executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a county. This position is common in the United States.The executive may be an elected or an appointed position...
and the Hudson County Bar Association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
; in the past it has been used in a number of television programs and movies, including scenes in the television series Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, and for commercials.
Construction
The Courthouse was designed by Jersey City native Hugh Roberts, twice a president of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of ArchitectsAmerican Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
. Roberts, brother-in-law of future United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and New Jersey Governor Edward I. Edwards, received a direct appointment as architect. No competition or bidding for designs was held, causing controversy among local architects. The property on which the courthouse stands was obtained from fourteen separate property owners between 1905 and 1914. The groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
took place on March 21, 1906 and the cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid on December 12, 1906. Construction of the building was done by Wells Brothers of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and construction of the interiors and finishes were by John Gill & Son of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
The courthouse is constructed of granite quarried in Hallowell, Maine
Hallowell, Maine
Hallowell is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,467 at the 2000 census.-History:The city is named for Benjamin Hallowell, a Boston merchant and one of the Kennebec Proprietors, holders of land originally granted to the Plymouth Company by the British monarchy in...
. The front of the building is visually dominated by four Corinthian columns
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
and a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
above the main entrance bearing the inscription "Precedent Makes Law; If You Stand Well, Stand Still."
Interiors
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
; Millet assigned himself two lunette
Lunette
In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
s on the third floor and a dozen small panels in the second floor corridors. Also on the third floor, Millet assigned two lunettes to Charles Yardley Turner
Charles Yardley Turner
Charles Yardley Turner was an American artist and muralist.Born in Baltimore, Turner studied art in Europe under French masters Jean-Paul Laurens, Mihály Munkácsy and Léon Bonnat...
, as well as eight more to Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York...
. Cox also provided the groined
Groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults; cf. ribbed vault. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round...
ceilings. Edwin Blashfield
Edwin Blashfield
Edwin Howland Blashfield , an American artist, was born in New York City.He was a pupil of Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat in Paris beginning in 1867, and became a member of the National Academy of Design in New York...
painted the glass dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
and the four pendentive
Pendentive
A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or...
s between its supporting arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es. The Tudor-style legislative chamber of the Board of Freeholders on the second floor was adorned with murals by Howard Pyle
Howard Pyle
Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.__FORCETOC__...
depicting early life of the Dutch and English in New Jersey. This room has been called "one of the handsomest legislative chambers in the United States."
David G. Lowe, writing in American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
magazine, described the interior of the building:
"The courthouse interior is a rush of color—pearl gray and green-veined marbles, golden light fixtures, yellow, green, and blue paint. Standing in the great central court, one looks up the three stories of the magnificent rotunda to a dome whose outer rim is painted with the signs of the zodiacZodiacIn astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
and whose center is an eye of stained glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
worthy of Tiffany. One feels—as one does in the rotunda at the heart of the Capitol in Washington—the dignity of government and the permanence of law."
Restoration
Plans for restoring the courthouse had been proposed even before it fell into disuse. In 1961, the architectural modelist Theodore Conrad proposed converting the building into a new city hall for Jersey City. The plan would have created a mall in front of the building and surrounded it with additional city buildings and a museum. Another proposal would house a branch of the New Jersey State MuseumNew Jersey State Museum
The New Jersey State Museum is located at 205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey, United States, overlooking the Delaware River. The Museum is operated as part of the New Jersey Department of State. General admission is free....
in the building. Conrad led a citizens group that lobbied for the preservation of the building, and got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The award-winning restoration project resulted in the courthouse being reopened in 1985 for the use of the civil courts and other county offices.
Renaming
The Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders renamed the courthouse in 1984 in honor of Associate Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, who had served in the building as Hudson County Assignment Judge from 1947 through 1951. Following the 1989 Supreme CourtSupreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
decision in Texas v. Johnson
Texas v. Johnson
Texas v. Johnson, , was an important decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that the defendant's act of flag burning was...
, which Brennan authored, veterans groups petitioned unsuccessfully to have the name removed, but the Freeholders unanimously voted to retain the name.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey