100 Centre Street
Architect: Charles Meyers
Date Constructed: 1939

Known as “The Tombs,” the Criminal Courts Building and Prison is New York Police Department Headquarters; it’s also where individuals arrested in New York go to be “processed.” Beneath ground level, prisoners are led through a dank maze of concrete walkways and placed in holding cells to wait for their opportunity in court. The court sessions are held on the ground floor, and police business is handled in the offices above. The architecture is remarkably heavy and ponderous, evocative of the slow–moving bureaucracy of the city.