Daily Blague

In 1933, my grandfather, William John Keefe, a lawyer and Democratic Party operative in Clinton, Iowa, was appointed to the bench of the U.S. Customs Court. Since it is not an "Article III" court - see our Constitution - Congressional approval is not required, making the Customs Court a perfect reward for political favors such as the one that my grandfather worked for FDR at the 1932 convention. The Court, its predecessor and it successor (the United States Court of International Trade) sits in New York City, and the the building that currently houses the Museum of the American Indian was built to be the Alexander Hamilton Custom House between 1899 and 1907. The building was designed by Cass Gilbert, and the imposing sculptures were wrought by Daniel Chester French. It's typical of my youthful solipsism that I never made absolutely certain (by asking my father) that "the Judge," as my grandfather was known to everyone after his promotion, actually held court in this building, but I can't think where else he would have done so. Taking the position, in any case, required him to move, with his wife and two sons, to the New York area. My father never forgot arriving via the recently-complete George Washington Bridge.

The building was unoccupied when the picture was taken, and would remain so for some time. The Court moved to the World Trade Center when it was built. After 9/11, it found home at 1 Federal Plaza, near the other courthouses in Manhattan. Presumably it will stay there, whatever is put up on the devastated site.

A new design for the Freedom Tower, the flagship of current redevelopment plans of the World Trade Center site, was unveiled this week. It is simpler than Daniel Libeskind's first design, and it sits on a fortified pedestal. It looks more likely to stand up than its predecessor, and more imposing than the dim-witted Twin Towers, which I sincerely hope will be rebuilt verbatim, so to speak, in Dallas, Texas, where they always belonged. But even though I actually like the new plan, I'm joining the growing body of people who believe that nothing (aside from the memorials) ought to be built on the site for the foreseeable future. Construction makes no economic sense; the one building to be replaced, 7 World Trade Center, is said to have no tenants lined up for its fall opening - an extraordinarily strange situation. Beyond that, I see the site as a wound that must be allowed to heal naturally, at the hands of people who weren't alive on that terrible day. Until then, we ought to content ourselves with the stewardship of a park. Build an office complex in Long Island City and give it to Larry Silverstein - but leave Ground Zero alone. Let's put something beside square footage first.