For 30 years the converted State Hall served the needs of judges and lawyers alike.
But by the late 1940s its age was catching up to it.
The state's Department of Public Works reported that the portico was in danger of collapsing, the interior was looking shabby, and the electrical wiring and heating needed to be replaced.
Nothing would be done about this situation until Governor Averell Harriman made a surprise inspection of the building in 1956.
Two years later another renovation began under state architect Carl Larson and Judge Charles W. Froessel.

The work had been delayed while the judges considered, and rejected, building an entirely new courthouse, as their predecessors had in 1917.
They heard cases in the Appellate Division courtroom at the nearby county courthouse, while they received temporary chambers at the capitol.
The clerk of courts and his staff took their temporary quarters at an old storage building at Lodge Street and Maiden Lane.
The reporter relocated to 6 Elk Street.

Early in the renovation, a short circuit in the elevator machine room started a serious fire that destroyed the roof and dome and badly damaged the rotunda.
Work continued, and shortly afterward another serious problem occurred when excavations around the foundation disclosed that the eastern corners of the building had each sunk 5 inches (13 cm) since 1842, resulting in severe damage to floors, windows, lintels and the interior arches.
The original foundations of rubble on clay were replaced with concrete.

A larger new dome, 64 feet (20 m) wide and 23 feet (7.0 m) high, built of steel beams and light concrete planks, replaced the original.
It was sheathed in lead-coated copper and topped with a wooden cupola.
Inside the dome a 34-foot–wide (10 m) mural by Eugene Savage, The Romance of the Skies, depicts the three seasons during which the court sits.
Except for the removal of the cantilevered stone staircase, now deemed too structurally unstable to use, the rotunda remained unchanged.

It was the only space inside that did.
Many rooms received new coats of paint, and the ceiling arches were hidden from view by new walls.
New elevators and stairs were installed to replace the original stone stair.
Additional amenities, such as air conditioning, an enamel-walled kitchen and television in the reception room, were added for the judges.
Their robing room was paneled in birch.
Two of the seven judges had chambers on the first floor; the rest were upstairs.
The paintings that hung in Robertson's courtroom were cleaned and rehung; a new carpet was installed.

On the outside much of the original marble was removed and replaced with stone quarried in Vermont.
Six Ionic columns and new stairs were built for the reconstructed portico.
Above the main entrance, an 8-ton (7.3 t) emblem of the state seal sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein was installed.

Despite the fire and the structural issues, the project was finished ahead of schedule in 1959.
Nelson Rockefeller, who had succeeded Harriman, gave the court his full support.
At the rededication ceremony that October, Chief Judge Albert Conway symbolically accepted the keys from him.
Conway observed as he did that the new building reflected the "permanence of an ideal".
For 30 years the converted State Hall served the needs of judges and lawyers alike. But by the late 1940s its age was catching up to it. The state's Department of Public Works reported that the portico was in danger of collapsing, the interior was looking shabby, and the electrical wiring and heating needed to be replaced. Nothing would be done about this situation until Governor Averell Harriman made a surprise inspection of the building in 1956. Two years later another renovation began under state architect Carl Larson and Judge Charles W. Froessel.
The work had been delayed while the judges considered, and rejected, building an entirely new courthouse, as their predecessors had in 1917. They heard cases in the Appellate Division courtroom at the nearby county courthouse, while they received temporary chambers at the capitol. The clerk of courts and his staff took their temporary quarters at an old storage building at Lodge Street and Maiden Lane. The reporter relocated to 6 Elk Street.
Early in the renovation, a short circuit in the elevator machine room started a serious fire that destroyed the roof and dome and badly damaged the rotunda. Work continued, and shortly afterward another serious problem occurred when excavations around the foundation disclosed that the eastern corners of the building had each sunk 5 inches (13 cm) since 1842, resulting in severe damage to floors, windows, lintels and the interior arches. The original foundations of rubble on clay were replaced with concrete.
A larger new dome, 64 feet (20 m) wide and 23 feet (7.0 m) high, built of steel beams and light concrete planks, replaced the original. It was sheathed in lead-coated copper and topped with a wooden cupola. Inside the dome a 34-foot–wide (10 m) mural by Eugene Savage, The Romance of the Skies, depicts the three seasons during which the court sits. Except for the removal of the cantilevered stone staircase, now deemed too structurally unstable to use, the rotunda remained unchanged.
It was the only space inside that did. Many rooms received new coats of paint, and the ceiling arches were hidden from view by new walls. New elevators and stairs were installed to replace the original stone stair. Additional amenities, such as air conditioning, an enamel-walled kitchen and television in the reception room, were added for the judges. Their robing room was paneled in birch. Two of the seven judges had chambers on the first floor; the rest were upstairs. The paintings that hung in Robertson's courtroom were cleaned and rehung; a new carpet was installed.
On the outside much of the original marble was removed and replaced with stone quarried in Vermont. Six Ionic columns and new stairs were built for the reconstructed portico. Above the main entrance, an 8-ton (7.3 t) emblem of the state seal sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein was installed.
Despite the fire and the structural issues, the project was finished ahead of schedule in 1959. Nelson Rockefeller, who had succeeded Harriman, gave the court his full support. At the rededication ceremony that October, Chief Judge Albert Conway symbolically accepted the keys from him. Conway observed as he did that the new building reflected the "permanence of an ideal".
New York Court of Appeals Building