Building of the Day: 495 Gates Avenue

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 495 Gates Avenue, between Marcy and Tompkins Avenue
Name: PAL Wynn Center, formerly Gates Avenue Courthouse
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1902
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival/Beaux Arts
Architects: H. Van Buren Magonigle
Landmarked: No

In April of 1946, the Police Athletic League formally opened the Thomas Wynn PAL Center on Gates Ave. in Bedford Stuyvesant,dedicated to the memory of a police officer killed in the line of duty in 1914. That PAL center is open to this day in this impressive building, and serves the youth of Bed Stuy with a number of excellent programs.

But most people don’t know that before this was the PAL, it was the Gates Avenue Courthouse. The courthouse actually replaced an even older law enforcement building, the old 9th Precinct House. In 1902, funds were allotted for the building of this new courthouse, and after some controversy over who should build it, the commission went to HVB Magonigle, a relatively unknown architect with a very interesting pedigree.

More on him at another time. The courthouse originally had a magistrate’s court, which was two stories tall with a mezzanine. In this total space were anterooms for lawyers, clerks and stenographers, offices, and a private magistrate’s chambers.

The third floor had a civil court with ante-rooms, and prisoners were held in the basement. The entire building cost $40,000. By the 1940’s the courthouse was being used as a detention center and traffic court.

The conversion to the PAL center turned the magistrate’s courtroom into a basketball court and game room, the civil courtroom became a boxing ring, and the old prisoner’s detention centers became locker rooms and showers. Today, in addition to children’s activities, the 79th precinct uses the PAL for their community precinct meetings. It’s still an impressive building, still encouraging and aiding the community.

[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]