Six-year-old me spent a lot of time in the back seat traveling across the state to a family Christmas here or an Easter there. The historic courthouses I saw on those trips made a massive impression on me! I spent hours drawing each I came across and knew that the Hamilton County Courthouse in downtown Noblesville was truly special.
Continue reading “The Hamilton County, Indiana Courthouse (1879-1992)”
The Defiance County Courthouse was built in 1873. It spent eighty-five years as one of Ohio’s finest Second Empire structures before an unfortunate renovation turned it into the most hysterically ugly building I’ve ever seen. In 2016, it was renovated in a process that borrowed elements from both iterations to give the building a new lease on life.
Continue reading “The Defiance County, Ohio Courthouse (1873-)”
Indiana is littered with counties that have been forced to decapitate their courthouses over the years due to natural disasters or structural problems. Although you wouldn’t know it today at first glance, Adams County’s in Decatur is one of them. Its architect, J.C. Johnson, seemed particularly bad at designing clock towers. I guess that’s what’s bound to happen when you’re a self-taught courthouse architect1.
Continue reading “The Adams County Courthouse in Indiana (1872-)”