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The Tombs is the nickname for a heritage structure which goes by the formal name of New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention. In other words, it is the jailhouse for Lower Manhattan in the early to mid 19th century. The name has been used for a series of downtown jails located at 125 White Street. The first complex to bear the nickname was built in 1838, and was designed by John Haviland. The design was based on an engraving of an ancient Egyptian mausoleum. The building initially accommodated about 300 prisoners. It occupied a full block in Lower Manhattan, surrounded by Centre, Franklin, Elm (today's Lafayette), and Leonard Streets. The block on which the building stood had been created in 1811 by the filling-in of the Collect Pond, a small lake that had once been an important fresh water source for colonial New York City. Industrialization and population density by the late 1700s resulted in the severe pollution of the Collect and it was condemned, drained and filled in. The landfill job was not, however, a thorough one (and perhaps could not have been, as the Collect was fed by very deep aquifers and surrounded by bogs). Swampy, foul-smelling conditions had already led to the formation of a poor, hardscrabble neighborhood by the time construction of the prison started in 1838. The enormous, heavy masonry of Haviland's building was built atop caissons of gigantic lashed hemlock tree trunks in a bid for stability, but the entire structure began to sink soon after it was opened. It was this watery foundation along with the lightless solidity of the building which would be primarily responsible for its reputation as an egregious, unsanitary hellhole in the decades to come. As it also housed the city's courts, police, and detention facilities, The Tombs' more formal title was The New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention. Some regarded it as a notable example of Egyptian Revival architecture in the U.S., but opinion varied greatly on its actual merit. "What is this dismal fronted pile of bastard Egyptian, like an enchanter's palace in a melodrama?", asked Charles Dickens in his American Notes of 1842. The prison was well known for its corruption and went through numerous scandals and successful prison escapes throughout its early history and, by 1850, many were calling for its destruction. By the early 1900s, reforms began to be made as the first prison school for younger inmates in an American adult correction facility was established by the Public Schools Association in 1900. The original building was replaced in 1902, connected by a "Bridge of Sighs" with the Criminal Courts Building on the Franklin Street side. That building was replaced in 1941 by one at 125 White Street, officially named the Manhattan House of Detention, though still popularly referred to as "The Tombs". Part of the Tombs was eventually closed in 1974 due to security and health reasons. Shortly thereafter, the structure was pulled down and replaced with another building. The current jail comprises two buildings connected by a pedestrian bridge--a 381 bed tower that is the remaining part of the 1941 building at 100 Centre Street. The current Tombs prison was named The Bernard B. Kerik Complex in December 2001 at the direction of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Kerik had been a well-regarded corrections commissioner from 1998-2000 before becoming police chief. After Kerik's 2006 plea bargain admitting to two misdemeanor ethics violations dating from his tenure as a city employee, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered his name removed. The following is a series of detention buildings that have carried the name of "Tombs" since the 19th century: Content Attribution (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License) |
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