Bronx County Courthouse, 1938.

The nine-story Bronx County Courthouse was built between 1931-1934, two blocks east of Yankee Stadium. When the court opened in 1934, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia celebrated its dedication by declaring it the seat of the city’s government for three days.

The Art Deco courthouse, designed by architects Joseph H. Freedlander and Max Hausle, has four identical facades, each with matching six-column entrance porticoes. A continuous frieze by Charles Keck depicts various conditions of city residents industry, hardship, and glory throughout history.

The courthouse has been the seat of Bronx borough administration since the closure of Bronx Borough Hall in 1969. In 1988, it was renamed in honor of former Bronx district attorney Mario Merola.