The Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, is an historic

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

building located in the Concourse and Melrose neighborhoods of

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was designed in 1931 and built between 1931 and 1934. It is a nine-story

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

building on a rusticated

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

base in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style. It has four identical sides, an interior court, and a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

designed by noted sculptor Charles Keck. The sculptures on the 161st Street side are by noted sculptor George Holburn Snowden. Two sculptural groups on the Walton Avenue side are by noted sculptor Joseph Kiselewski. Kiselewski collaborated with Adolph A. Weinman to create the work. The

Bronx Museum of the Arts The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by ...

was once located on the main floor. ''See also:'' The building stands two blocks east-southeast of

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

, and across 161st Street from Joyce Kilmer Park. While never officially titled 'Borough Hall', the Bronx County Courthouse houses all municipal borough functions, and is listed as a borough hall on maps by the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...

. The previous freestanding Bronx Borough Hall was damaged by fire and torn down in 1969, but had stopped operating in an official capacity long before this.

Murals

The first floor's Veterans Memorial Hall houses four murals, one per wall, by

James Monroe Hewlett James Monroe Hewlett (August 1, 1868 – October 18, 1941) was an American Beaux Arts architect, scenic designer, and muralist. Hewlett was born into an old Long Island family at Rock Hall in Lawrence, New York. He is descended from a l ...

, depicting historic events in the Bronx. The murals were unveiled in June 1934 and feature the following historical events: * The Arrival of Jonas Bronck – 1639, in what is now Mott Haven. * The First Meeting of the Westchester County Court – 1764, in what is now Westchester Square. * The

Battle of Pell's Point A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

– October 18, 1776, in what is now

Pelham Bay Park Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The p ...

. * The Departure of George Washington from the

Van Cortlandt House The Van Cortlandt House, also known as the Van Cortlandt Mansion, is the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx in New York City. It is located in the southwestern portion of Van Cortlandt Park. The house is operated as a historic house mus ...

– November 1783 in what is now

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a urban park, park located in the borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Al ...

. A

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

depicting the arrival of Jonas Bronck, considered the founder of the borough, was created in the early 1930s by James Monroe Hewlett. The mural was damaged by workers in August 2013. Many people, including the proprietor of Jonas Bronck's Beer Co and a reported descendant of Laurens Duyts, a Danish farmer who traveled to

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

with Bronck on his ship ''Fire of Troy'', sought the mural's restoration prior to the 100th anniversary of

's separation from

New York County Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

in 2014. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983.

Renaming

In February 1988, Mayor Edward Koch renamed the Bronx County Courthouse to the Mario Merola Building to honor the late Bronx County District Attorney Mario Merola.

References

Government buildings in the Bronx County courthouses in New York (state) Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Government buildings completed in 1934 1930s architecture in the United States New York City Designated Landmarks in the Bronx Neoclassical architecture in New York City National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx Concourse, Bronx Art Deco architecture in the Bronx 1934 establishments in New York City {{Bronx-struct-stub