The Surrogate's Courthouse is a historic building at the northwest corner of Chambers and Centre Streets in New York City. A seven-story, steel-framed structure in the Beaux Arts style, with a granite facade and elaborate marble interiors, it was completed in 1907. John Rochester Thomas created the original plans while Arthur J. Horgan and Vincent J. Slattery oversaw the building's completion. The exterior is decorated with fifty-four sculptures by Philip Martiny and Henry Kirke Bush-Brown, as well as three-story Corinthian-style colonnades on Chambers and Reade Streets. The building's basement houses the New York City Municipal Archives. The fifth floor contains the surrogate's court for New York County, which handles probate and estate proceedings for the New York State Unified Court System. The Surrogate's Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark, and its facade and interior are both New York City designated landmarks.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogate%27s_Courthouse

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1898:

Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the first official land speed record, averaging 63.15 km/h (39.24 mph) over 1 km (0.62 mi) in Achères, France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record

1916:

The French defeated German forces around the city of Verdun- sur-Meuse in northeast France, ending the longest and one of the bloodiest battles in the First World War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun

1963:

Ghanaian and other African students organized a protest in Moscow's Red Square in response to the alleged murder of medical student Edmund Assare-Addo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_Moscow_protest

1996:

The school board of Oakland, California, passed a controversial resolution officially declaring African-American Vernacular English to be a separate language or dialect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_English_and_education

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

primum mobile: 1. (astronomy, historical) The outermost celestial sphere of the heavens in Ptolemaic astronomy, which was believed to cause all the inner spheres to rotate. 2. (chiefly philosophy, theology) The prime mover or first cause (“an initial cause from which all other causes and effects follow”). 3. (by extension) The person or thing that is the main impetus for some action; a driving force. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/primum_mobile

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

When I'm away from you I'm happier than ever Wish I could explain it betterI wish it wasn't true. Give me a day or two To think of something clever To write myself a letter To tell me what to do.   --Billie Eilish https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Billie_Eilish