The fantastical Jefferson Market building—with its turrets, gables, stained glass, and incredible clock tower—started out in 1877 as a courthouse and jail (with a notorious women’s prison in a long-gone building behind it).
It flirted with demolition in the 1950s before being recycled into a branch of the New York Public Library.
This is all old news to fans of gothic-inspired New York architecture. But what isn’t as well-known is that the building was apparently inspired by a German castle—called Neuschwanstein, former home of Bavaria’s King Ludwig II.
The AIA Guide to New York City calls Jefferson Market a “mock Neuscshwansteinian assemblage,” while New York Architecture has compiled some information on the castle, described as “neo-late romanesque.”
Hmm, see a resemblance?
Tags: Bavarian Castle Inspired Jefferson Market, Gothic architecture New York City, Jefferson Market Courthouse, Jefferson Market Greenwich Village, Jefferson market library, Most beautiful building in New York
Ephemeral New York 
July 1, 2013 at 5:23 pm |
Ironically, it was originally supposed to be torn down in order to expand the Art Deco Women’s House of Detention, next door, in the 1960s.
July 1, 2013 at 9:40 pm |
“Mad” King Ludwig built several castles. Besides the fabulous Jefferson Market Building, they were the inspiration for the Fantasy Land castles at Disneyland and Disney World.
July 2, 2013 at 10:52 am |
[…] two hours earlier [NYT] 13. German castle was the muse for West Village courthouse’s design [Ephemeral New York] 14. Sellers ask $20-plus million for Park City, Utah, mansions […]
July 8, 2013 at 6:33 pm |
Construction on Neuschwanstein started in the mid-1870s and wasn’t complete until the mid-1880s. But looks more Ruskinian than Neuschwansteinian to me, anyways….
September 26, 2013 at 5:44 am |
[…] The castle-like exterior features “steeply sloping roofs, gables, pinnacles, Venetian Gothic embellishments, and an intricate tower and clock,” as the AIA Guide to New York City puts it. […]
January 2, 2014 at 4:46 am |
[…] It’s not the first time New York architects were inspired by Europe; the Bronx’s main thoroughfare pays homage to the Champs-Elysees, while Jefferson Market courthouse takes a Bavarian castle as its inspiration. […]
January 19, 2015 at 6:26 am |
[…] Sixth Avenue at West 10th Street looks about the same today, right? Well, except for the notorious women’s prison building hiding behind the Jefferson Market Courthouse turned Library. […]
July 15, 2019 at 6:05 am |
[…] me, it feels similar to Jefferson Market Courthouse, an architectural leap of faith but on a smaller […]
July 15, 2019 at 8:42 am |
[…] me, it feels similar to Jefferson Market Courthouse, an architectural leap of faith but on a smaller […]
July 15, 2019 at 9:39 am |
[…] me, it feels similar to Jefferson Market Courthouse, an architectural leap of faith but on a smaller […]
November 13, 2023 at 4:10 am |
[…] of Jefferson Market, at Sixth and Greenwich Avenues and 10th Street in Greenwich Village. While the Victorian Gothic Jefferson Market Courthouse that replaced it in 1877 (and still stands today) is a magnificent sight to behold, this low-rise […]