Long Island City Courthouse, courthouse in Long Island City, Queens, in New York City
Long Island City Courthouse is a stone building built in the Neo-English Renaissance style at Court Square in Queens, featuring four stories with large windows and decorative architectural details. The complex sits on about 2 acres and now houses the Civil Term of the Supreme Court for Queens County, while its original jail spaces have been replaced by a parking garage.
Construction began in 1874 under architect George Hathorne, but fire later damaged the building. In the early 1900s, Peter M. Coco remodeled and expanded it from two to four stories to house multiple functions including Criminal and County Courts, as well as District Attorney and sheriff offices.
The building's presence at Court Square marks the shift that brought Queens County's administrative center from Jamaica to Long Island City in the late 1800s. Its grand stone facade and formal architectural details reflect how the design was meant to communicate respect for law and justice to everyone who passed by.
The courthouse sits at a convenient location on Court Square with good access to transportation routes and is easy to reach on foot. Parking is available in the on-site garage for those arriving by car, and the site is also well-served by public transit.
The building originally had two stories and gained its distinctive four-story form after a fire, when it was rebuilt to serve as an expanded courthouse complex. A notable feature is a courtroom with a stained glass ceiling that was carefully restored during recent renovation work.
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