Bronx County Courthouse
Nine stories of Art Deco limestone on the Grand Concourse — four identical facades, a perimeter frieze, and Veterans Memorial Hall murals tracing the Bronx from its 1639 founding to the Revolution.
At a glance
The Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, stands at 851 Grand Concourse in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx — a nine-story Art Deco limestone structure designed in 1931 by Joseph H. Freelander and Max Hausle and completed in 1934. Four identical facades enclose an interior court; a frieze by sculptor Charles Keck runs the full perimeter, and sculptural groups by George Holburn Snowden and Joseph Kiselewski anchor the principal facades. Inside, Veterans Memorial Hall carries four monumental 10-by-36-foot murals by James Monroe Hewlett depicting founding events in the Bronx’s history. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and designated a New York City Landmark in 1976, the building stands two blocks east-southeast of Yankee Stadium and functions as the borough’s de facto civic hall.
Key facts
- Designed: 1931; Completed: 1934
- Architects: Joseph H. Freelander; Max Hausle
- Style: Art Deco
- Height: 9 stories; limestone on rusticated granite base
- Address: 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York 10451
- NRHP: September 8, 1983 (ref. 83001636)
- New York City Landmark: July 13, 1976 (#0928)
- Also known as: Mario Merola Building (renamed February 1988)
History
The Bronx County Courthouse was designed as the borough’s consolidated civic building, housing both county courthouse and borough government functions. Architects Joseph H. Freelander and Max Hausle produced four identical stone facades on a symmetrical plan with an interior court — a classical organizing principle given an Art Deco vocabulary in the limestone detailing, the pilaster-strip vertical composition, and the Keck frieze. The sculpture program involved several important figures: Charles Keck designed the frieze on all four facades; George Holburn Snowden produced the figural groups on the 161st Street side; and Joseph Kiselewski, collaborating with Adolph A. Weinman, created the sculptural groups on the Walton Avenue facade.
Inside Veterans Memorial Hall, four murals by James Monroe Hewlett were unveiled in June 1934. Each panel measures 10 by 36 feet and depicts a moment in the Bronx’s history: the arrival of Jonas Bronck in 1639 at what is now Mott Haven (considered the borough’s founding); the First Meeting of the Westchester County Court in 1764 in what is now Westchester Square; the Battle of Pell’s Point on October 18, 1776 in what is now Pelham Bay Park; and the departure of George Washington from the Van Cortlandt House in November 1783. The mural depicting Bronck’s arrival was damaged by construction workers in August 2013; its restoration became a civic cause in advance of the 2014 centennial of the Bronx’s separation from New York County. In February 1988, Mayor Edward Koch renamed the building the Mario Merola Building to honor the late Bronx County District Attorney. The Bronx Museum of the Arts was once housed on the main floor before relocating to its current building on Grand Concourse.
What you see
The courthouse’s four identical sides present the Art Deco’s capacity for civic grandeur at the scale of the Grand Concourse. The nine-story limestone mass sits on a rusticated granite base; Keck’s frieze runs the full perimeter; pilaster strips rise through most of the building’s height. The balanced composition — the Deco tendency toward verticalism restrained by the horizontal frieze — reads as civic authority from the boulevard without the aggressive height of a skyscraper. The building is best viewed from Joyce Kilmer Park directly across 161st Street, where its full facade width is legible in one frame.
Inside, Veterans Memorial Hall’s four panoramic murals by Hewlett form one of the most complete narrative mural programs in any Bronx civic building. Each 10-by-36-foot panel covers a wall of the ground-floor hall; reading them in sequence takes a visitor through four and a half centuries of Bronx history. The murals’ scale — 36 feet wide — demands a gallery-sized room; the courtroom hall provides it, making this an ensemble of architecture and painting that justifies a visit to the building regardless of the courthouse proceedings happening elsewhere.
Practical information
- Active courthouse and government facility; public access to lobby and ground-floor public spaces during business hours
- Veterans Memorial Hall murals accessible during business hours; no admission charge
- Building security is standard courthouse level (ID may be required)
- Allow 30 minutes to see the exterior frieze and the murals
- Best exterior photography from Joyce Kilmer Park across 161st Street
Getting there
851 Grand Concourse is in the Concourse/Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx, two blocks east-southeast of Yankee Stadium. By subway, the 4 and B/D lines stop at 161st Street–Yankee Stadium, two blocks west. The courthouse is accessible from the 161st Street entrance on the building’s north side. By car, the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87) exits at 161st Street for the Grand Concourse. GPS: 40.8261°N, 73.9242°W.
Nearby
- Yankee Stadium — two blocks west, the 2009 home of the New York Yankees; guided tours available on non-game days
- Joyce Kilmer Park — directly across 161st Street, the best vantage point for the courthouse exterior and a pleasant public space in its own right
- Grand Concourse Historic District — Art Deco residential boulevard running north from the courthouse, one of the most intact large-scale Art Deco streetscapes in the United States
Sources
- Wikipedia: Bronx County Courthouse
- Ultan, Lloyd. The Bronx County Building’s Historical Murals: An Artistic Legacy (Bronx County Historical Society, 2018)
- National Register of Historic Places: ref. 83001636 (September 8, 1983)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission: Designation No. 0928 (July 13, 1976)
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