1005 Bedford Avenue, ca. 1960. This monolithic structure built in the Byzantine Romanesque style was originally the first temple for the Congregation of Temple Israel. The massive synagogue was constructed by the Parfitt Brothers, known for lavish townhouses, mansions, churches, and commercial buildings across the borough, including St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church in Park Slope and 6 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. The synagogue was dedicated in 1891 and completed in 1893. After years of catering towards the surrounding area's German Jewish population, membership dwindled in the 1920s, with many members moving to Manhattan or out of Brooklyn. The congregation joined K.K. Beth Eloheim, Brooklyn's oldest Jewish congregation, in 1929, thus vacating their synagogue at 1005 Bedford Avenue. Seeking to alleviate the crowded conditions of the Clermont Avenue Traffic Court, the city purchased the building and converted the temple into the Brooklyn Traffic Court, as seen in this image. Much of the interior was likely gutted to make way for courtrooms, detainment cells, and office cubicles. The Brooklyn Traffic Court later moved to the Downtown Department of Motor Vehicles Office. The building then became a Bergen Tile store. The building was demolished in 1969.

By Robert Pigott When most New Yorkers think of courthouses, they visualize Foley Square in lower Manhattan or perhaps Court Street in Brooklyn. But there was a time when the City’s courthouses were not so centralized. If you travel to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood and walk along 42nd Street towards the East River, when you get to Fourth Avenue, you will come upon a truly majestic building. An apparently recent sign out front says “Community Board 7.” But engraved in stone over the entrances on opposite sides of the building are the words “MAGISTRATES COURT” and “MUNICIPAL COURT.” This building unlocks the story of New York City’s lost neighborhood courthouses. Until a 1962 amendment of the New York State Constitution, there were Magistrates’ Courts handling minor criminal matters and Municipal Courts for small civil cases. By 1962, these courts had been abolished, and the City’s courthouses were largely centralized in each Borough. But from the late 19th century through the early 1960s, you could find courthouses in every corner of New York City. Some were very modest structures that you would not expect to have been preserved. Others were very grand structures that either has been put to new uses or are sadly lying fallow. Read this in its original format here.