Brooklyn was the nation’s third-largest city, still a few years away from joining New York City, when the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse opened in 1892. Almost immediately, the government began expanding the building—which housed Brooklyn’s main post office and a federal district court—filling the entire block by 1933. But when the court left in the 1960s, the building entered a steady decline, hastened after the Postal Service transferred its sorting facilities to Long Island in the 1980s. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) eventually acquired the complex and, after considering its demolition or sale to developers—both plans opposed by community groups and the late Senator Daniel Moynihan—decided to restore it for a diverse group of federal tenants.
The GSA paired the U.S. Bankruptcy Court—which initially needed courtrooms, judges’ chambers, and offices for a staff of 60 clerks—with the U.S. Trustee Office, which provides pre-bankruptcy services to litigants. The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) also received space. And, although it was no longer the landlord, the Postal Service wanted to maintain a retail branch in the building.
Decades of neglect and makeshift alterations had marred interior spaces. The GSA hired R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects to restore the atrium and reconfigure other spaces. Only the landmarked exterior facades, which belong to a typology of federal buildings erected during the late 1800s, was left untouched.
Rather than subdivide large, 1892-vintage courtrooms, or add levels onto the roof, Kliment & Halsband built into the 1933 structure’s central courtyard to create extra space. The architects clad their steel-framed, four-story addition in a glass curtain wall, providing nearly all of the USAO offices with access to daylight and forging a strong visual tie to the conjoined 1892 structure. Below it, they added two courtrooms and a law library, all illuminated by skylights punched into the courtyard’s floor.
Inside the Bankruptcy Court, which occupies the oldest structure, the design team restored two courtrooms and judges’ chambers, as well as the atrium. In addition to recreating the original paint finishes, they reinstalled a glass deck that spanned this volume between the first and second floors; below it they located a glass-enclosed clerk intake facility and public records room.
The building’s south elevation had contained its main entry. Security requirements mandated that each tenant access its space separately, but the architects succeeded in creating a new, unified entry sequence along the west elevation, facing a public plaza.
PeopleOwner: U.S. General Services Administration Architect: R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects Partner/lead designer: Robert Kliment, FAIA Partner/collaborating designer: Frances Halsband, FAIA Partner in charge: Michael A. Nieminen, AIA Project manager: Richard L. McElhiney, AIA Project architect: Karl A. Lehrke AIA Consulting architect: Engineers: M/e/p, fire protection, telecom: Structural: Civil: Geotechnical: Consultants: Landscape: Lighting: Acoustical and audio/visual: Construction: Security: Vertical transportation: Signage: Curtainwall: Blast: Code: Historic conservation: Cost management: Court: Hazardous materials: General contractor: Bovis Lend Lease www.bovislendlease.com Construction manager: Photographer: Cervin Robinson Renderer: Brian Burr CAD system, project management, or other software used: |
ProductsStructural system: Exterior Cladding: Metal/glass curtainwall: Roofing: Tile/shingles: Windows: Glazing: Doors: Metal: Hardware: Hinges: Closers: Exit devices: Pulls: Security devices: Interior finishes: Suspension grid: Demountable partitions: Paints and stains: Paneling: Special surfacing: Floor and wall tile: Resilient flooring: Carpet: Raised flooring: Donn Furnishings: Lighting: Downlights: Task lighting: Exterior: Conveyance:
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