Jefferson Market Library

You are approaching a structure that looks more like a European castle than a typical New York City library. This striking building, with its pointed arches, steep gables, and dramatic clock tower, was originally constructed between eighteen seventy-four and eighteen seventy-seven to serve as the Third Judicial District Courthouse. Its architects, Frederick Clarke Withers and Calvert Vaux, designed it in a flamboyant High Victorian Gothic style that stood out sharply against the surrounding neighborhood. When it first opened, critics were so taken aback by its ornate appearance in what they considered a rough district that they famously dubbed the project a jewel in a pig's snout.