New York City

The climate of New York City features a humid subtropical variety (Cfa), with parts of the city transitioning into a humid continental climate. (Dfa) This gives the city cool, wet winters and hot, humid summers with plentiful rainfall all year round. Meteorological records have been kept at Central Park since 1821, although the station was relocated to a different part of the park on January 1, 1920. There are also other weather stations in the area including one at LaGuardia Airport, beginning in 1940, and at JFK Airport, beginning in 1948. However, due to Central Park's long records and central location, it is often considered the main station for the city. Hence, all records unless otherwise stated will be for this station. The highest temperature ever observed in Central Park is 106 °F (41 °C) on July 9, 1936 and the lowest is −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 9, 1934. The lowest daily maximum is 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917. The highest daily minimum at Central Park is 87 °F (31 °C) on July 2, 1903. However, LaGuardia reported 107 °F (42 °C) on July 3, 1966. The city can be prone to extremes. Snowfall is an infrequent occurrence in the city, on average occurring on only 12 days per year, though it can be heavy when it occurs. The city can also be prone to strong winds, being a coastal location it is exposed to the Atlantic. This can be especially pronounced during the autumn and winter months, with a gust of 78 miles per hour (126 km/h) being reported on December 2, 1974.

New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building is the oldest city hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions, such as the office of the Mayor of New York City and the chambers of the New York City Council. While the Mayor's Office is in the building, the staff of thirteen municipal agencies under mayoral control are located in the nearby Manhattan Municipal Building, one of the largest government buildings in the world, with many others housed in various buildings in the immediate vicinity. New York City Hall is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated both City Hall's exterior and interior as official city landmarks in 1966 and 1976, respectively.

The 1966 New York City smog was a major air-pollution episode and environmental disaster, coinciding with that year's Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Smog covered the city and its surrounding area from November 23 to 26, filling the city's air with damaging levels of several toxic pollutants. It was the third major smog in New York City, following events of similar scale in 1953 and 1963. On November 23, a large mass of stagnant air over the East Coast trapped pollutants in the city's air. For three days, New York City was engulfed in dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, and haze. Pockets of air pollution pervaded the greater New York metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. By November 25, the smog became severe enough that regional leaders announced a "first-stage alert". During the alert, leaders of local and state governments asked residents and industry to take voluntary steps to minimize emissions. Health officials advised people with respiratory or heart conditions to remain indoors. The city shut off garbage incinerators, requiring massive hauling of garbage to landfills. A cold front dispersed the smog on November 26, and the alert ended. In the months that followed, medical researchers studied the smog's impact on health. City officials initially maintained that the smog had not caused any deaths, but it soon became clear that the smog had significantly harmed public health. A study published in December 1966 estimated that 10% of the city's population had suffered adverse health effects, such as stinging eyes, coughing, and respiratory distress. A statistical analysis published in October 1967 found that 168 deaths had likely been caused by the smog. The smog catalyzed greater national awareness of air pollution as a serious health problem and a political issue. The government of New York City updated local laws on air-pollution control. Prompted by the smog, President Lyndon B. Johnson and members of Congress worked to pass federal legislation regulating air pollution in the United States, culminating in the 1967 Air Quality Act and the 1970 Clean Air Act. The extent of harms from subsequent pollution events, including the health effects of pollution from the September 11 attacks and incidents of pollution in China, have been judged by reference to the 1966 smog in New York.

The Rogers Peet Building is an eight-story building in the Civic Center and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. Built between 1898 and 1899, it replaced a five-story structure that was home to the Rogers Peet clothing store between 1863 and 1898, when the original structure burned down.

The Civic Center is the area and neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, that encompasses New York City Hall, One Police Plaza, the courthouses in Foley Square, the Metropolitan Correctional Center and the surrounding area. The district is bound on the west by Tribeca at Broadway, on the north by Chinatown at Worth Street or Bayard Street, on the east by the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge at South Street, and on the south by the Financial District at Ann Street.

City Hall, also known as City Hall Loop, was a terminal station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It was under City Hall Park next to New York City Hall in Civic Center, Manhattan. The City Hall station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as the southern terminal of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the segment of the line that includes the City Hall station started on September 12 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. As ridership grew, it was deemed infeasible to lengthen the original 257-foot (78 m) platform to accommodate ten-car trains. The station was closed on December 31, 1945, because of its proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge station. The City Hall station, with its single track and curved side platform, was the showpiece of the original IRT subway. The single platform and mezzanine feature Guastavino tile, skylights, colored glass tilework, and brass chandeliers. The Rafael Guastavino-designed station is unique in the system for the usage of Romanesque Revival architecture. The tunnel passing through the City Hall station is still used as a turning loop for the 6 and <6>​ trains. The station is a New York City designated landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Tweed Courthouse (also known as the Old New York County Courthouse) is a historic courthouse building at 52 Chambers Street in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City. It was built in the Italianate style with Romanesque Revival interiors. William M. "Boss" Tweed – the corrupt leader of Tammany Hall, a political machine that controlled the New York state and city governments when the courthouse was built – oversaw the building's erection. The Tweed Courthouse served as a judicial building for New York County, a county of New York state coextensive with the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the second-oldest city government building in the borough, after City Hall. The structure comprises pavilions to the east and west of a central section, as well as a rear wing to the south. Architect John Kellum and political appointee Thomas Little designed the first portion of the building, which was constructed from 1861 to 1872. Construction was interrupted in 1871 when Kellum died and the corruption involved in the building's construction was exposed to the public. The project was completed by architect Leopold Eidlitz, who added the rear wing and finished the interior between 1877 and 1881. The media criticized the project as wasteful and gaudy during the courthouse's construction, and for a century after its completion, there were frequent proposals to demolish the building. Several modifications were made after completion, including removal of its front steps. Modern restoration and historic preservation were completed in 2001. The building has since housed the New York City Department of Education's headquarters on its upper floors and schools on its ground level. The Tweed 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.

The New York City Police Riot of 1857, known at the time as the Great Police Riot, was a conflict which occurred in front of New York City Hall between the recently-dissolved New York Municipal Police and the newly-formed Metropolitan Police on June 16, 1857. Arising over New York City Mayor Fernando Wood's appointment of Charles Devlin over Daniel Conover for the position of city street commissioner, amid rumors that Devlin purchased the office for $50,000 from Wood, Municipal police battled Metropolitan officers attempting to arrest Mayor Wood. Two arrest warrants had been issued against the mayor following an altercation between him and Conover when arriving at City Hall to assume his office. The situation was resolved only with the intervention of the New York State Militia under Major General Charles W. Sandford.

41 Park Row, also 147 Nassau Street and formerly the New York Times Building, is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, across from City Hall and the Civic Center. It occupies a plot abutting Nassau Street to the east, Spruce Street to the north, and Park Row to the west. The building, originally the headquarters of The New York Times, is the oldest surviving structure of the former "Newspaper Row" and has been owned by Pace University since 1951. 41 Park Row contains a facade of Maine granite at its lowest two stories, above which are rusticated blocks of Indiana Limestone. Vertical piers on the facade highlight the building's vertical axis. The facade also contains details such as reliefs, moldings, and colonettes. When completed, the building was 13 stories and contained a mansard roof; the roof was removed as part of a later expansion that brought the building to 16 stories. The Times constructed the previous five-story building at 41 Park Row between 1857 and 1858 as its third headquarters. That building was replaced in 1889 as a Romanesque Revival structure by George B. Post, which was erected while operations at the Times proceeded in the old quarters. 41 Park Row was the home of the Times until 1903, when it moved to One Times Square. The building was subsequently expanded by four stories between 1904 and 1905. The building was purchased by Pace University in 1951 and has been used for classrooms and offices since then. 41 Park Row was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. The building is also a contributing property to the Fulton–Nassau Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2005.

The Bridewell was a municipal prison built in 1768 on the site now occupied by City Hall Park in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

The Beach Pneumatic Transit was the first attempt to build an underground public transit system in New York City. It was developed by Alfred Ely Beach in 1869 as a demonstration subway line running on pneumatic power. The subway line had one stop in the basement of the Rogers Peet Building and a one-car shuttle going back and forth. It was not a regular mode of transportation, and lasted from 1870 until 1873.

The City Hall station is a local station on the BMT Broadway Line of the New York City Subway in Tribeca and Civic Center, Manhattan. It is served by the R train at all times except late nights, when the N train takes over service. The W train also serves this station on weekdays.