Cumberland, Maryland

Although many church spires dot the Cumberland landscape, it is the Allegany County Courthouse that dominates this city’s skyline. Historically, courthouses in America have been the most architecturally impressive buildings within a community, the better to convey the authority of a local government, as well as to instill respect and recognition.

Designed in 1893, the Courthouse was the first major commission of Wright Butler who based his design for this public building on the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. The massing and detail of the Courthouse are typical of this late 19th-century style, developed from the works of architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Characteristic of this style, the Courthouse combines the use of brick highlighted with stone belt courses and presents a uniform rock-faced exterior finish. The building’s ribbons of windows set deeply into the walls, and large arched entry are also typical Richardsonian features. Less typical is the Courthouse’s tower buttressed with round columns that rises above the three-story building.