"I was chosen to be on Jury duty at the William J. Brennan Courthouse, 593 Newark avenue, the week of 21 October 2024. I had served on Jury duty 2 times prior to this ,over the years, in the more modern building, just a few 100 feet away on the same Newark avenue.
The Brennen Courthouse is quite elegant inside; it gives the impression that important discussions and important decisions are made in its hallways and in its Court Chambers. Its facade is currently masked by ground to roof scaffolding and safety netting while it undergoes renovations and cleaning. Its walls, outside, are granite mined from New Hampshire. The Brennen building was costructed and completed in 1910. It is 114 years old and it has been in service for nearly that long.
Its interiors are marble and its doors and window frames are dark wood. It is very impressive inside.
The elevators in the building have dark wood and have modern lighting but it is hard to see the floor numbers on the automatic buttons, you push, to get to the right floor. If you look closely you can see in the opposite corner of the automatic button panel that there is a brass control that in a bygone era belonged to the on board elevator operator who would respond to your floor request and drive the elevator there.
on the 4th floor of the building you can look up and see the ornate color glass window in the ceiling. On the four walls of the forth floor there are four large murals which depict historcal scenes from the Hudson County past.
One mural is of spectators watching Fort Washington being attacked by the British Red Coats most likely in 1776 right after the Battle of Long Island, ( Brooklyn ).
The mural on the wall across from that is of the sailing of Robert Fultons commercial steam boat Clementine on its succesful maiden voyage up the Hudson traveling a whopping 5 miles an hour to Albany. It cost the passengers on board a nickle a mile to get to Albany that is $7.50. In the mural you see the Clementine being watched, from shore, as it moves up the Hudson River.
A third mural depicts Indians armed with bows an arrows poised to shoot at several englishmen in a row boat just off shore. They appear to be a landing party getting the lay of the land.
The fouth mural, the final one, is of English men trading with the indians on shore. The idians are studying the metal cooking pots the English are offering to trade."

Daniel Rodriguez

"This architectural masterpiece stands in stark contrast to the dystopian administrative / civil court building next door.
I felt like a human should feel, elevated by his surroundings.
It also runs calm and more efficiently then it’s third world neighbor.
Here are some photos."

Jack Snow

"One of the movie settings of THE JOKER, starring Joaquin Phoenix. The Beaux-Arts structure, built in 1906, designed by local architect Hugh Roberts, was saved from the wrecking ball through the efforts of community leaders in 1970. It is listed on the National Register of Historical Places."

Heru Mafudi