Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State

The Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State (also known as Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York) is a historic court house located at 27 Madison Avenue at East 25th Street, across from Madison Square Park, in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

The limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

Beaux-Arts courthouse was designed by James Brown Lord

James Brown Lord

James Brown Lord was an American architect, working in a Beaux-Arts idiom, with a practice in New York City. His Appellate Court House was his most prominent commission, noted at the time of his premature death, at the age of forty-three...

and built in 1896-1899. It is considered to be an "outstanding" example of the City Beautiful Movement

City Beautiful movement

The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy concerning North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago,...

. The exterior – which features sculptures in white marble from Lasa (Laas) on subjects related to law by Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...

, Frederick Ruckstuhl, Philip Martiny

Philip Martiny

Philip H. Martiny was a Franco-American sculptor who worked in the Paris atelier of Eugene Dock, where he became foreman before emigrating to New York in 1878— to avoid conscription in the French army, he later claimed...

, Karl Bitter

Karl Bitter

Karl Theodore Francis Bitter was an Austrian-born United States sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work.- Life and career :...

, Herbert Adams, Edward C. Potter and ten others – was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and the interior – which features alllegorical murals by Edwin Bashfield, Kenyon Cox

Kenyon Cox

Kenyon Cox was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York...

, H. Siddons Mowbray and seven other American artists, as well as specially-designed furniture by Herter Brothers

Herter Brothers

The firm of Herter Brothers, New York, , founded by Gustave and Christian Herter , begun as an upholstery warehouse, became one of the first firms of furniture makers and interior decorators in the United States after the Civil War...

– in 1981. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1982.

Among the historical and legendary lawgivers depicted in the statues, Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

was originally included. During a 1955 renovation, however, international publicity resulted in protests against this image of the prophet

Depictions of Muhammad

The permissibility of depictions of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, has long been a concern in the history of Islam. Oral and written descriptions are readily accepted by all traditions of Islam, but there is disagreement about visual depictions....

from Muslim nations. The statue of Muhammad was subsequently removed.

See also