Family Court and Criminal Court Building
900 Sheridan Avenue and 215 East 161st Street
(courts have separate entrances on different streets)
Charles Alston
Equal Justice Under the Law, 1976
Mosaic, 96" x 432"
Criminal Court
Department of General Services/FA
The Family, 1976
Mosaic, 144" x 264"
Family Court
Department of General Services/FA
Installation view, The Family, 1976
The Criminal Court/Family Court Building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz, the firm responsible for the planning and design of the principle buildings at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. In addition to two large mosaic tile murals by the African-American artist Charles Alston, there were twelve commissions for banners and tapestries of various sizes (eight are still in situ; four are missing) awarded to nine artists. Alston's murals are found in separate lobbies: Equal Justice Under the Law in the entry of the Criminal Court, The Family for Family Court. Equal Justice Under the Law contains five equally sized but differently colored globe-like forms representing the five races of man. Similarly, in The Family variously colored abstract figures set against a blue background represent the family of man. These very modern looking almost abstract panels are markedly different from Alston's multi-figured compositions done 35 years earlier for Harlem Hospital.
The Criminal Court/Family Court Building
