The monumental Richard C. Lee U.S. Courthouse is located on the east side of the New Haven Green. The building is an excellent example of Classic Revival architecture. It originally served as a courthouse and post office, although the post office moved to another location in 1979. James Gamble Rogers designed the building, which was constructed between 1913 and 1919. It was the last to be designed under the auspices of the Tarsney Act (1890–1912), which allowed the Treasury Department to hire private architects rather than use only designers employed by the federal government. Rogers was also the architect for the General Services Administration's John Minor Wisdom U.S. Courthouse in New Orleans, for structures at Yale University, his alma mater, including the noted Sterling Memorial Library and Harkness Memorial Tower, and for the Butler Library in New York, NY.
In 1910, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of the designer of Central Park, and architect Cass Gilbert, two of the most prominent designers working in America at the time, produced a city planning document for New Haven. Olmsted and Gilbert advised that the style, materials, and scale of the new courthouse and post office should respect the character of existing public buildings around the Green, and Rogers achieved these goals.
The courthouse ranks among the most distinguished of New Haven’s public buildings. It was threatened with demolition, along with City Hall, during the urban development of the late 1960s, and the Preservation Trust was a prominent collaborator in the campaign for its preservation. Today its imposing, classically inspired exterior remains much the same as originally constructed, and within the building, many original volumes and features survive.
The tour will be led by Clerk of Court Dinah Milton Kinney and former Clerk of Court Robin DeKam Tabora, whose combined Judicial service spans over 65 years. This tour will explore historic and new courtrooms, jury deliberation rooms, jury assembly rooms, meeting rooms, offices, support spaces, lobbies, stair halls, inner courtyard, and architecturally important spaces. An Overview of the Judiciary will be given and a Meet and Greet with a Federal Court Judge will be held.
To register for this NHPT members-only tour, please email info@nhpt.org or click below. Places are limited by the nature of the tour and will be allocated on a first-come basis.
Tour is open to NHPT MEMBERS ONLY.
Registration is requested by Wednesday, May 4.
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