Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse

The Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse stands as a monumental figure in lower Manhattan, rising thirty-seven stories above Foley Square. When it was completed in 1936, this granite tower held the distinction of being the first federal skyscraper ever constructed. Its design, by the architect Cass Gilbert, was a deliberate departure from the low-slung, horizontal government buildings of the time, opting instead for a towering, campanile-style structure that maximized office and courtroom space on a constrained city lot.