Boston Municipal Courthouse, left, and corner of Suffolk County Courthouse, right.
The BOSTON MUNICIPAL COURTHOUSE, on the left, ca. 1900, may look familiar because of its featured role in several television series. It is as ornate inside as outside. To the right, not fully shown here, is the much taller 1937 Suffolk County Courthouse housing the Trial Court for Suffolk County and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and its related facilities. Most criminal trial work is conducted in the newer building which has better security for detained defendants, but the courtrooms in the BMC, as it is known, are more picturesque. The two buildings are somewhat clumsily joined but function more or less as a unit. A bomb was exploded in the county courthouse in the late 1970's by someone with an apparent grudge against the probation department, causing some damage but injuring only the person who brought it into the building.