Built 1917 Opened 1917 Added to NRHP 16 May 2003 | NRHP Reference # 03000404 Area 4,900 m² Architect William H. Allen | |
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Location 121 Elm Street, New Haven, Connecticut Architectural styles Beaux-Arts architecture, Neoclassical architecture Similar New Haven Green, New Haven City Hall and, East Rock Park, DeFremery Park, Yale University | ||
New haven county courthouse
The New Haven County Courthouse is located at 121 Elm Street in the Downtown section of New Haven, Connecticut. The building was built in 1917 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 2003.
It faces onto the New Haven Green. Specifically it is located on the northwest corner of Elm and Church Streets, facing the northeast corner of the green, across Elm Street. It contains "several of the city's grandest interior spaces." The courthouse was designed by William H. Allen and Richard Williams. Their Beaux Arts architecture design won a design competition over submissions from several well-known architects.
Significant court cases tried at the courthouse include Griswold v. Connecticut (a historic trial involving women's right to birth control) and the trial of Black Panther Bobby Seale.
The building was under threat of demolition in 1956.
The building's exterior underwent a $10.5 million renovation project, with work beginning in January 2013.
The sculpture in the courthouse's front was executed by J. Massey Rhind. The figures in Rhind's tympanum are Justice, Victory, Precedence, Accuracy, Common Law, Statutory Law, Progress and Commerce. Unobtrusive netting is installed across the tympanum to prevent hawks from nesting there, as the birds have done in the past.