Sunset Park Court House
4201 4th Avenue | also 401 43rd Street | Sunset Park | built 1931
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1930
Architect Mortimer Metcalfe, who helped design Grand Central Terminal, designs the courthouse
Mortimer Dickerson Metcalfe, born in Brooklyn in 1880, filed the permits for the courthouse in June 1930. He worked in both New York and Palm Beach, Florida, and was linked to several leading firms, including F. B. and A. Ware and Warren and Wetmore. His Palm Beach Post obituary said he had helped design Grand Central Station and several hotels. The Landmarks Commission knew of only two courthouses by him; this was one.
“His obituary in the Palm Beach Post notes that he was an "assistant in designing Grand Central Station and several hotels.”
- 1931
The new Sunset Park Court House joins a small cluster of civic and church buildings on Fourth Avenue
When the courthouse opened in 1931, it stood across the street from the 68th Precinct station house, built in 1886, and near St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church and Parish School, finished in 1905. Together the three buildings formed a small civic and religious center for a neighborhood then known for its Scandinavian immigrants. Fourth Avenue was the broad parkway at the neighborhood's residential center.
“…joined by the Sunset Park Courthouse in 1931 to form a small cluster of civic and religious buildings…”
- 1931
The new courthouse has separate entrances for its municipal and magistrates' courts, at an estimated cost of $475,000
The Sunset Park Court House was designed around two courts under one roof, each with its own columned entrance on opposite sides: the Municipal Court on 42nd Street and the Magistrates' Court on 43rd Street. Its foundations were reinforced concrete and stone, and the upper walls limestone over brick. The cost of construction was estimated at $475,000.
- 1931
The courthouse is a limestone Classical Revival building with Ionic porticos and eagle-topped corner quoins
Metcalfe gave the Sunset Park Court House three stories above a rusticated basement, in an I-shaped plan with nearly identical facades on 42nd and 43rd Streets. Each entrance has a portico of six Ionic columns, and the corner quoins end in stylized American eagles. A 1931 cornerstone sits at the northwest corner. The site slopes down Fourth Avenue, which changes the height of the basement and stairs.
- 1962
The city reorganizes its courts and the Sunset Park Court House closes
A Sanborn insurance map shows the building still serving as a magistrates' and municipal court in 1946. When the New York City court system was reorganized in 1962, the Sunset Park Court House closed. By 1970 the space was in use as the city's Job Preparation Center.
“In 1962, with the reorganization of courts in New York City, the Sunset Park Court House closed.”
- 1973
The Sunset Park Senior Citizens Center joins Community Board 7 and other groups in the former courthouse
After the courts closed, Community Board Seven moved into the building, and a youth rehabilitation organization called Genesis also took space there. In 1973 the Sunset Park Senior Citizens Center arrived as another tenant. The old courtrooms and offices thus became a base for several nonprofit and community groups.
“In 1973, the Sunset Park Senior Citizens Center joined other non-profit and community groups as tenants of the building.”
- 1996
Helpern Architects finish restoring the neglected courthouse, and the NYPD moves in
By 1987 the building was in extreme disrepair, and city officials scheduled it for renovation, projecting a year of work at about $640,000. The work was actually completed in 1996 by Helpern Architects, who repaired and cleaned the limestone facades, mended parts of the copper roof, and added bird deterrents, anti-graffiti coatings and an air-conditioning unit. The New York Police Department moved in once the renovation was done.
- 2001
The Landmarks Commission designates the former courthouse, with the NYPD and Historic Districts Council in support
At an April 24, 2001 hearing, three witnesses spoke for designating the former Sunset Park Court House, among them a representative of the New York City Police Department, which used the building, and the Historic Districts Council. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it on June 26, 2001. By then Community Board Seven used it as its headquarters, and the police department ran its applicant processing division there.
- 2023
The interim Sunset Park library branch at 4201 4th Avenue closes as the neighborhood's new library prepares to open
For a time, the Sunset Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library operated from an interim location at 4201 4th Avenue. It closed in September 2023 to prepare for the move to a new two-story library at 5108 4th Avenue. That site, at the foot of an eight-story building with affordable housing, replaced a one-story library built in 1972.
Source: brooklynpaper.com
Further reading
- Sunset Park CourthouseWikipedia
Nearby
- St. Michael's Church356 42nd Street | 4 entries
- 68th Precinct Station House and Stable4308 4th Avenue | 5 entries
- Engine Company 228436 39th Street | 4 entries
- Sunset Play Center children's comfort station4200 7th Avenue | 3 entries
- Sunset Play Center bath house4200 7th Avenue | 7 entries
- Dr. Maurice T. Lewis House404 55th Street | 6 entries