The Committee for a Library in the Courthouse was focused on saving the Jefferson Market Courthouse from demolition and converting the building into a branch of the New York Public Library.

1961: The Committee for a Library in the Courthouse is created 

August 23, 1961: Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. publicly backs the plan for a library in the courthouse

1967: The Jefferson Market Courthouse reopens to the public as a branch of the New York Public Library

December 22, 1977: The Jefferson Market Courthouse is designated a National Historic Landmark

The Committee for a Library in the Courthouse was created in 1961 following the success of the Committee of Neighbors to Get the Clock on Jefferson Market Courthouse Started. While preserving the courthouse building was always the intention of the clock committee, this objective came to the forefront once Village residents decided on a use for the structure. By early 1961, with the help of Stanley Tankel and Robert Weinberg, the New York Public Library adopted the idea of using the building.¹ With the backing of the library, the Village committee, led by Margot Gayle and Philip Wittenberg, went to work developing a preservation plan for the historic courthouse. Villagers were eager to rally around the use of the space as a library because it served "the dual purpose of preserving a historic landmark and providing needed cultural facilities.”²

The Committee for a Library in the Courthouse was responsible for spearheading the campaign to preserve the Jefferson Market Courthouse in the early 1960s. Members of the committee worked to preserve the building, which they saw as a Greenwich Village landmark. Margot Gayle described the building as "a picturesque and colorful old thing" that neighborhood residents "had taken for granted.”³

Preserving the building meant preserving the character of the neighborhood; to this end, committee members began a grassroots campaign. Meetings were held in the home of committee chairman Philip Wittenberg and sought to include anyone interested in the building.⁴ The members then used their political connections to call attention to the cause, including various "night letter" telegrams sent directly to the office of the mayor.

Once the committee began to receive attention, the board worked to build its ranks, attracting notable Village residents such as Maurice Evans, Lewis Mumford, and C. C. Cummings.⁵ With growing support, the committee showed its strength in numbers through public hearings and letters to city officials.⁶ The campaign proved effective, and on August 23, 1961, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. publicly backed the plan for a library in the courthouse.⁷

Following the decision from the mayor, Giorgio Cavaglieri, an architect who had worked with the committee, retrofitted the building for use as a library.⁸ In 1967, the Jefferson Market Courthouse was reopened to the public as a branch of the New York Public Library.

• Friends of Cast Iron Papers
  National Trust for Historic Preservation Library Collection
  University of Maryland
  College Park, MD 20742
  
  Margot Gayle Photo Collection
  New York Preservation Archive Project
  174 East 80^th Street
  New York, NY 10075
  Tel: (212) 988-8379
  Email: info@nypap.org
  
  
• Charles Hosmer, Interview with Margot Gayle, under the auspices of the Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 23 June 1982. University of Maryland Libraries Collection.
  
  
• Oral History with Margot Gayle (available upon request)
  New York Preservation Archive Project
  174 East 80^th Street
  New York, NY 10075
  Tel: (212) 988-8379
  Email: info@nypap.org
  
  Oral History with Margot Gayle
  Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
  Preservation
  232 East 11^th Street
  New York, NY 10003
  Tel: (212) 475-9585
  Email: info@gvshp.org