Click here to read more about SLL in the "Old" Suffolk County Court House

Pemberton Square Court House, ca. 1920

Outgoing Mayor of Boston Nathan Matthews, in his report to the City Council on January 5, 1895, commented that the new Court House in Pemberton Square was four times the size of the older court house, but that "it is already crowded, and at some not distant day, additional accommodations will be necessary." [1] This was the start of the ever increasing need for space in the Pemberton Square Court House.

Architect George Clough was called in again to modify his original structure in 1909 and 1910 because of the need for more space. His plan called for the addition of two more stories in the form of a large mansard roof placed on top of the building. These new floors were designed with two large halls on alternating sides, one on each floor, that would be the new homes for the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds and the Social Law Library.

[1] NATHAN MATTHEWS, JR., THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF BOSTON 73 (Boston, Rockwell and Churchill, 1895).