Jefferson Market Library

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The Jefferson Market Branch, New York Public Library is located along the Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) in Greenwich Village, New York City on a triangular plot formed by Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street. The building was originally built as the Third Judicial District (Jefferson Market) Courthouse between the years 1874-1877 from a design by architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux.

[edit] Architecture

The red brick structure is built in a collection of styles inspired by the high pitched roofline of German castles and Venetian Gothic details, featuring stained glass windows and a four sided clock tower. The Jefferson Market Courthouse was used until 1945 and remained vacant and was slated for demolition, but local residents saved the richly decorated brick structure by persuading the city to reuse the building as a public library.

A simple wood fire lookout tower was the first building on the site, built circa 1833, located in the center of the merchants sheds at the Jefferson Market.

[edit] Use

A courthouse later occupied the space, with an adjoining jail along 10th street. The old sheds of the Jefferson Market were replaced in 1883 by a dedicated building for the market, and in 1927 the market and jail were replaced by the New York Women's House of Detention. That building was demolished in 1974 and the lot is now home to a community garden called the Jefferson Market Greening. The Jefferson Market Library building ceased to be used as a courthouse in 1945.^[1] After the courthouse shut down, there was some discussion of demolishing the building.^[1]