8. Jefferson Market Prison, Greenwich Village

Illustration by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler

Fredrick Clarke Withers, who helped Vaux and Olmstead design Central Park, was the architect behind the Jefferson Market Courthouse, which included a five-story prison. The entrance to the prison was on Tenth Street. Floor one had a guard room, a keeper room as well as two waiting rooms, one for male prisoners and one for female prisoners. Individual cells were provided on the second floor for 29 female prisoners and on the third floor for 58 male prisoners. A steam elevator moved the prisoners around the building and even up to an airing court on the roof for exercise without the change of escape. Though the prison has since been demolished, the courthouse still stands. This building is now known as the Jefferson Market Library.