60 Centre Street · New York County Courthouse
NBC, 1990–2010, and again from 2022. About half of each show’s scenes were shot on New York locations and the rest on sets; a location-heavy episode could need as many as 40 locations. Strike The Clang to cut between them.
Every episode
Each episode has a police half, the investigation, and a prosecution half in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Steven Zirnkilton speaks the opening narration about the two groups that represent the people in the criminal justice system. Dick Wolf created the series. It ran on NBC from 13 September 1990 to 24 May 2010: twenty seasons, 456 episodes.
Law · 6 places
A precinct front on Chambers Street, City Hall’s steps, headquarters, two hospitals and a Midtown corner.
Order · 3 places
The Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street, the first courtrooms in Tweed Courthouse and the sets on the pier.
Name the sound
The composer Mike Post made the scene-change tone, which he calls The Clang. Susan Green and Randee Dawn say it is built from six or seven sounds.
Four names for the same tone. Pick one.
Cut to
Nine real places in the order of an episode: the police half first, then the courts and the sets. Each strike cuts to black and lands on the next one. Sound is off until you turn it on.
0 of 9 cuts. The screen is black.
Foley Square
Five of the nine places are round the courthouse. Measured in a straight line from 60 Centre Street, the furthest is 410 metres away.
The show’s unit production manager, Moe Bardach, said they filmed there almost every episode, on the steps or inside.
60 Centre Street, the New York Supreme Court, was the one location used by all three Law & Order shows in 2009. The shows made regular donations, and the money helped restore the rotunda ceiling.
A working courthouse of the New York Supreme Court. Sit on the steps or look from Foley Square; inside, expect security screening.
Early courtroom scenes were shot at Tweed Courthouse, before a courtroom set was built.
It was built from 1861 to 1872 to designs by John Kellum and Thomas Little, and finished by Leopold Eidlitz from 1877 to 1881. Its upper floors house the New York City Department of Education’s headquarters, with schools at ground level.
Seen from City Hall Park and Chambers Street. It holds city education offices and schools, so look from outside.
Civic Center, Manhattan
Live marketplace results for walking tours of City Hall, the courthouses and Foley Square. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walks77 Walker Street, Tribeca · Rates on booking
A former ribbon factory turned hotel, its own site says, at 77 Walker Street in Tribeca, north of Foley Square and the courthouses. Pictured: the Surrogate’s Courthouse nearby.
Check roomsThe Hudson at 23rd Street
The series’ interior sets were at Chelsea Piers. In 2009 the Chelsea Piers studio held the sets of Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
On 14 September 2004 a road to Pier 62 at Chelsea Piers was renamed Law & Order Way. The studio is now Silver Screen Studios, at 62 Chelsea Piers. It lists Law & Order among its former tenants.
The revival premiered on 24 February 2022, with the sets rebuilt in Brooklyn.
The studio is a working production space with no tours. Walk the Hudson River Park esplanade past Pier 62 instead.
The corner of 53rd Street and Eighth Avenue was named for Jerry Orbach, who lived on that corner for more than 25 years.
His wife, Elaine, pushed for months to have it named for him, and Community Board 5 finally approved the honour. A director who worked with him on Broadway and on Law & Order called him “Mr. New York”.
Jerry Orbach played Detective Lennie Briscoe for about twelve years, leaving after the fourteenth season in 2004.
A street sign on a Midtown corner, a block from the 50th Street subway. People live here: look at the sign, not the windows.
Chelsea, Manhattan
Live marketplace results for walks along the Hudson River Park and through Chelsea, past the piers. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walksManhattan
Live marketplace results for New York screen-location tours. Few name Law & Order, so check each route for its stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursCredits
The courthouses, City Hall, the plaza at headquarters, the street corner and the river path are open to see. The hospital on East 23rd Street and the studio are working places, seen from outside; Goldwater is gone.
9 places you can visit in New York City. The crane site in Spanish Harlem and the revival’s Brooklyn stages are not named in any source, so they are not here.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working court building on Chambers Street, a short walk from City Hall. The front is seen from the pavement.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The steps face City Hall Park. Look from the park; the building is the working seat of the mayor.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. NYPD headquarters. The plaza in front is open to walk through; the building is not.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working courthouse of the New York Supreme Court. Sit on the steps or look from Foley Square; inside, expect security screening.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from City Hall Park and Chambers Street. It holds city education offices and schools, so look from outside.
Civic Center · 31 Chambers Street, Lower Manhattan
The exterior of the fictional 27th Precinct was filmed outside the New York County Surrogate’s Court on Chambers Street.
A working court building on Chambers Street, a short walk from City Hall. The front is seen from the pavement.
Civic Center · City Hall Park, off Broadway, Lower Manhattan
Jeffrey Hayes, a unit production manager and executive producer on the show from 1990 to 2004, moved a police awards ceremony to the City Hall steps instead of a ballroom with 500 extras.
The steps face City Hall Park. Look from the park; the building is the working seat of the mayor.
Civic Center · 1 Police Plaza, behind the Municipal Building
The series’ title card is set in Friz Quadrata, the typeface also used on the sign at 1 Police Plaza, NYPD headquarters.
NYPD headquarters. The plaza in front is open to walk through; the building is not.
Civic Center · 60 Centre Street, on Foley Square
60 Centre Street, the New York Supreme Court, was the one location used by all three Law & Order shows in 2009.
A working courthouse of the New York Supreme Court. Sit on the steps or look from Foley Square; inside, expect security screening.
Civic Center · 52 Chambers Street, behind City Hall
Early courtroom scenes were shot at Tweed Courthouse, before a courtroom set was built.
Seen from City Hall Park and Chambers Street. It holds city education offices and schools, so look from outside.
Stay
No hotel is tied to the series; this one is a walk from Foley Square.
77 Walker Street, Tribeca · Rates on booking
A former ribbon factory turned hotel, its own site says, at 77 Walker Street in Tribeca, north of Foley Square and the courthouses. Pictured: the Surrogate’s Courthouse nearby.
Check roomsGo there
Foley Square, screen-location tours and the Hudson piers.
Civic Center, Manhattan
Live marketplace results for walking tours of City Hall, the courthouses and Foley Square. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walksManhattan
Live marketplace results for New York screen-location tours. Few name Law & Order, so check each route for its stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursChelsea, Manhattan
Live marketplace results for walks along the Hudson River Park and through Chelsea, past the piers. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walksWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the series is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
9 of 9 places · 13 of 13 stories
31 Chambers Street, Lower Manhattan
The front of the Surrogate’s Court on Chambers Street plays the outside of the 27th Precinct.
City Hall Park, off Broadway, Lower Manhattan
A police awards ceremony is moved from a ballroom to the steps of City Hall.
1 Police Plaza, behind the Municipal Building
The typeface of the title card is the one on the sign at NYPD headquarters.
423 East 23rd Street, Kips Bay
The VA medical centre on East 23rd Street is used for hospital scenes.
Southern Roosevelt Island, now the Cornell Tech campus
Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island is used for hospital scenes until it is pulled down.
West 53rd Street at Eighth Avenue, Midtown
The Midtown corner where Jerry Orbach lived for more than 25 years is named for him.
60 Centre Street, on Foley Square
Almost every episode films at 60 Centre Street, on the steps or inside.
Donations from the shows help restore the courthouse’s rotunda ceiling.
52 Chambers Street, behind City Hall
Early courtroom scenes are shot inside Tweed Courthouse, before a courtroom set is built.
62 Chelsea Piers, on the Hudson at West 23rd Street
The interior sets stand on Chelsea Piers, beside the Hudson.
A road to Pier 62 is renamed Law & Order Way.
Mike Post’s scene-change tone, built from six or seven sounds, marks every cut.
The series returns, its sets rebuilt in Brooklyn.
Every place in Law & Order leads somewhere else.
