City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (New York City)

You are standing near the site of a building that once dominated this area and drew harsh criticism from nearly everyone who saw it. Completed in eighteen eighty, the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse was a massive, five-story structure that occupied the southern tip of City Hall Park. It was designed in the French Second Empire style, complete with a sprawling mansard roof and ornate detailing. Despite its intended grandeur, New Yorkers quickly dubbed the structure Mullett's Monstrosity, named after its architect, Alfred B. Mullett. The public despised its heavy, fortress-like appearance, which many felt loomed uncomfortably over the more graceful New York City Hall nearby.