page_title: Surrogate's Courthouse
section_title: Interior
hierarchical_section_title: Surrogate's Courthouse / Architecture / Interior
caption_attribution_description: English: Zodiac mosaic in the Surrogate's Courthouse in Manhattan by William de Leftwich Dodge (c. 1905). Open House New York Weekend 2018
context_page_description: The Surrogate's Courthouse is a Beaux Arts municipal building in the Civic Center neighborhood of lower Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1907, it is located on the northwest corner of Chambers and Centre streets, across from City Hall Park, Tweed Courthouse, and the Manhattan Municipal Building.
  The Surrogate's Courthouse is a seven-story, steel-framed building with a granite facade and elaborate marble interiors. It was designed to be fireproof in order to safely house the city's paper records. The exterior features fifty-four sculptures by prize-winning artists, as well as a three-story Corinthian colonnade on Chambers Street. The building houses the city's Municipal Archives, as well as providing courtrooms for the Surrogate's Court for New York County on the fifth floor.
  The Hall of Records building had been planned since 1888 to replace an outdated building in City Hall Park. The building was designed by John R. Thomas and built between 1899 and 1907. The building was renamed the Surrogate's Courthouse in 1962, and over the years, has undergone few alterations.
context_section_description: There is a three-story interior courtyard, supposedly inspired by the Paris Opera, featuring an imposing marble double staircase leading to colonnaded balconies on the upper stories. It iss considered one of the city's finest Beaux Arts interiors. Mosaic murals showing the zodiac were created by William DeLeftwich Dodge.  The elaborate Surrogates' courtrooms on the fifth floor are endowed with carved oak and mahogany paneling, and gilded plaster decoration.
  The building has been favorably compared to the smaller Chamber of Commerce building and the larger Customs House, both contemporaries of this building in lower Manhattan.
caption: Segment of the ceiling mosaic by William de Leftwich Dodge
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