94. Surrogate's Court

A.K.A.: The Hall of Records
Location: 31 Chambers Street
Built: 1899-1907
Architect: John R. Thomas (1899-1901); Horgan & Slattery (1901-1911)
National Register Number: 72000888
Listed: January 29, 1972
Visited: November 15 and 21, 2008
Official Documentation: NYCLPC Report; NYCLPC Report (interior); NRHP Nomination Form; NHL Form



Abram S. Hewitt is haunted like a man with X-ray eyes, and bequiffed Philip Hone is gonna rave on after he throws that pen at you like a dart; and the rest of these cornice-dwellers peeking through the curtains, well, they're just showroom dummies in comparison. But inside, the lobby has a grand staircase modeled after the one at the Paris Opéra, which irresistably suggests we are to understand this building as a theater, these great men as actors, and the history of New York as an extravagant musical production--and not mere Vaudeville, however more appropriate that might be.

(Some of the wacky hijinx you knew and loved in the making of the Tweed Courthouse threatened to make encore performance here--there were unsavory connections to Tammany Hall, and the original architect died as this was being built--but propriety won out, with everything seemingly completed on-time and budget.)