100 Centre Street: Tenzing Bhutia

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tenzing Bhutia

According to the NY Post, " He drank enough Sam Adams beer to hike his blood-alcohol level to twice the legal limit. Then he plowed his dad's new Mercedes into a beautiful, 24-year-old Scottish woman on The Bowery and sped away - home to bed - as she died in the street. For this, a 21-year-old finance major named Tenzing Bhutia was promised a two-year prison term yesterday. Bhutia was even allowed to remain free until his June 19 sentencing - that way, he'll get to finish his degree at Baruch College. "I put the blame for my daughter's death squarely in the hands of the US justice system," Bill Thomson said of the case involving his tragic only daughter, Julia, who died of massive head injuries in the predawn mow-down last September. "Driving under the influence is generally dealt with by a slap on the wrist as a first offense, so it fails to act as a deterrent," the grieving father told the Edinburgh Evening News in Scotland after learning of the sentence."

Built: 1938-1941

Architect: Wiley Corbett and Charles B. Meyers

The Criminal Courts Building is located on the block surrounded by Centre, Leonard, Baxter and White Streets. It currently houses the Criminal and Supreme Courts, the District Attorney, Legal Aid, offices for the Police Department, Department of Correction, and Department of Probation.

The Criminal Courthouse was designed by Wiley Corbett and Charles B. Meyers. Construction began in 1938 and was completed in 1941, at a cost of $14 million. The site, formerly known as Collect Pond, had been the location of the old 1894 Criminal Courthouse and the old Tombs prison.

The seventeen-story Art Deco courthouse has a steel frame and a granite and limestone facade. The building is composed of four towers in front, with a jail behind. The taller center tower is stepped, like a ziggurat. The windows and spandrel form vertical bands alternating with the stone piers. The imposing entrance consists of two huge, freestanding granite columns. A wing designed by the Gruzen Partnership was added in 1986.

One of the original designers, Harvey Wiley Corbett (1873-1954), was one of the architects who planned Rockefeller Center. He also designed the Art Deco style North Building of Metropolitan Life. Charles B. Meyers (1875-1958) designed the Family Courthouse at 135-43 East 22nd Street, the unusual Art Deco/Byzantine style Main Building of Yeshiva University, and the former Municipal Health Building nearby at 125 Worth Street. He won a gold medal for his New York State building at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

On the inside, a hanging clock marks the center of the two-story high marble lobby. There are Art Deco lighting fixtures and metal doors and two grand staircases with ornamental railings. The simple courtrooms have wood wainscoting and Art Deco lighting fixtures.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS CONTAINED ON THIS SITE ARE PROTECTED BY UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, TRANSMITTED, DISPLAYED, PUBLISHED OR BROADCAST WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF STEVEN HIRSCH. ALL INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG HAS BEEN OBTAINED FROM PUBLIC COURT RECORDS OR NEWS SOURCES. STEVEN HIRSCH DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY AND ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM INACCURACIES OR OMISSIONS. STEVEN HIRSCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY COMMENTS POSTED. STEVEN HIRSCH DOES NOT VOUCH FOR OR WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY COMMENTS, AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY COMMENTS. IN SOME INSTANCES SOME PHOTOS WERE MADE OUTSIDE OTHER COURTS AND GOVERNMENTAL OFFICES IN THE PROXIMITY OF 100 CENTRE STREET AND WILL BE DULY NOTED.

100 Centre Street

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tenzing Bhutia

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