Walterboro, South Carolina

The Greek Revival portico is attributed to Robert Mills, South Carolina native son and designer of the Washington Monument, and built by Charleston contractors in 1822 at the coast of $20,750. The Colleton County Courthouse is a handsomely designed brick building stuccoed to represent stone. The entrance façade contains curved stairways with ironwork railings leading to a raised portico with an ironwork balustrade. Four Tuscan columns support the portico’s massive, undecorated entablature. The portico is framed by two pilasters and shelters a double, four-paneled door with sidelights and transom. The roofline is formed by a parapet extending the full width of the entrance façade, where it is surmounted by a shorter, second parapet. An arcaded entrance is below the raised portico. Two large wings were added to the original building in 1939. The first public meeting on nullification was held here in June 1828 when Robert Barnwell Rhett delivered his militant “Walterboro Address” urging Governor John Taylor to call an immediate session of the state legislature for the purpose of openly resisting tariff laws.

Amherst, Massachusetts

The present Town Hall was constructed on the site of the Palmer Block, a large brick building named after leading citizen Dwight Palmer which burned at the height of the blizzard on March 11, 1888. Since Palmer Hall was already the location for town meetings, the Town immediately purchased the block and constructed a sturdy, fireproof Town Hall. The popular Richardson Romanesque Style was designed by H.S. McKay of Boston and built for a total of $58,000!

This building, now cherished by the town, caused so much controversy and dissent as it was being constructed that the Amherst Record had this comment in 1890: “We should bear in mind the fact that the architect of the Cathedral at Milan, backed by the wealth of the universe, could not have designed a village horse-shed that would meet with universal favor at the hands of the citizens of Amherst.”

Fitchburg, Massachusetts

The Fitchburg City Hall was dedicated on January 7, 1853 to replace an aging structure built 60 years earlier on Upper Common. The town appropriated $20,000 for the land, construction and furnishings but all the bids came in higher than that amount. Rather than go over budget, as might be the accepted course today, one of the members of the building committee, Colonel Ivers Phillips, resigned and assembled his own team of local craftsman to do the job. The two-story Italianate brick building picked up an additional four stories in the rear in 1879. A major renovation in the 1960s kept the slender Italianate windows and ornamental window hoods but added the Ionic pilasters and general Greek Revival appearance. Surrounding buildings were not so lucky; all of City Hall’s 19th century neighbors have been leveled leaving it as an island in the cityscape.

West Chester, Pennsylvania

In 1682 William Penn established Chester County as one of three original counties in the Pennsylvania Colony and a Court House was constructed in 1724 in Chester near the Delaware River. Population density and immigrant migration necessitated moving the facility inland.   Between 1784 and 1786 a Court House was built in the village of West Chester on High Street. The current Chester County Courthouse, the architectural centerpiece of West Chester, was designed by Philadelphia architect Thomas U. Walter in the Greek Revival Style and opened officially on Washington’s Birthday, 1848. In 1859 the stone-and-brick Court House facades were faced with Pictou stone.

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

A signature piece of the remarkable Eber Culver, the Old City Hall is located on the former site of the Ross Park Cemetery that was sadly neglected on the northwestern edge of the Victorian business district. During a tour promoting his new book, Mark Twain spotted it, and, disgusted by its neglect, wrote a newspaper article entitled, “Remarkable Dream,” which records the thoughts of a disgruntled resident of the cemetery, though Twain omitted Williamsport’s name. The remains in the cemetery were later moved. This beautiful Victorian Romanesque building is a fine example of 19th century taste. This building is also on the National Register of Historic Places. The statue in front is the Sailors and Soldiers Monument erected as a tribute to the men who served in the Civil War.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

This is the third Lancaster County courthouse; the first two brick buildings stood a block away on Penn Square, then known as Centre Square. The grand building has evolved and expanded through the decades. The oldest section of this monumental cut-stone building was constructed between 1852-1854 in Roman Revival temple form by nationally respected Philadelphia architect, Samuel Sloan. The T-shaped rear wing was added in 1896 from the pen of local architect James H. Warner. Warner, who designed the Central Market, matched the materials and details of Sloans’ original building. In 1927, ow wings flanking the exterior staircase were built from designs by C. Emlen Urban to blend with the previous construction. The cupola contains a clock with four dials and a statue of Justice holding scales sits atop the central dome.

Snow Hill, Maryland

The Worcester County court has held session on this corner for over 150 years; until the Civil War the buying and selling of slaves was a common activity here. The first of two courthouses was destroyed by fire and the present courthouse, one of the finest on the Eastern Shore, was built in 1894. Baltimore architect Jackson C. Gott designed this brick five-bay building with an octagonal cupola wet on an Ionic base which holds the town clock.

Syracuse, New York

After being incorporated as a city in 1848 market stalls were converted into municipal offices and this arrangement served as City Hall for the next 40 years. In anticipation of a new facility a design competition was held in 1889 with eight local architects submitting plans; Charles E. Colton won. He borrowed heavily from the concepts of Henry Hobson Richardson, America’s most influential architect of the late 1800s, by adapting a medieval Romanesque style with rough-cut limestone, truncated pillars, triple arches and a dominant tower. City Hall has undergone relatively few changes over the years, although the main entrance has switched sides since it originally faced the Erie Canal.

Lancaster, South Carolina

This is the third courthouse on this site, having served the judicial needs of Lancaster County since 1828. It replaced an earlier courthouse notorious for hosting the last witch trials in America. The first was a log structure erected in 1795. The two-story building of handmade brick (some 300,000 made by slave labor) with recessed arches in the English Palladian manner was built on designs attributed to South Carolina’s premier superstar, Robert Mills. The first floor walls are solid brick 24 inches thick, the second floor walls are 18 inches thick. A series of double barrel brick vaults supports the second floor and forms the ceiling of the first. The floors were brick but covered with wood in 1892. A ground floor room still retains an original fireplace.

The roof and second floor were seriously damaged by an arson attack in the summer of 2008 but officals were determined to restore the courthouse, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It was not the first time a torch had been put to the building - General William Sherman’s Union troops attempted to burn it down but suceeded in only destroying some important papers.

The 30-foot Confederate monument out front was unveiled on June 4, 1909 has the distinction of being the first Confederate sculpture carved in the South. Previous monuments were carved in the North and transported to their sites. The $3,000 price tag was borne largely by the women of Lancaster  County. The soldier on the monument is Captain Amos McManus of Lancaster County.

North Stonington, Connecticut

This was the Wheeler general store until 1904 when it was given to the town and converted into municipal offices. Included for a time was the town jail. Since the jail was heated by wood stoves it was a reliable spot for a warm bed and was occasionally the scene of voluntary incarcerations on cold nights. The building dates to a century earlier when it was constructed by Daniel Packer and Jedidiah Randall.

Moorestown, New Jersey

This whitewashed brick building did duty as the heart of Moorestown civic life for more than 150 years; 162 to be exact. It began life as a humble, one-story structure in 1812. Records indicate that the lot was purchased from Thomas Hooton for $138 and that the entire cost of the original building was approximately $1500. In the 1850s the Moorestown Literary Association bought into the building and in 1859 it was doubled in size. A stage was installed inside and entertainers and lecturers began appearing here. A jail was constructed at the east rear corner in 1876.

The building’s current appearance dates to 1888 when the Women’s Christian Temperance Union agreed to spruce up the old town hall in exchange for stock in its ownership. The front was pumped up to 2 1/2 stories and adorned with elaborate Romanesque billet molding formed by alternating projecting and recessed bricks, especially noticeable in the arched window hoods. Entry was achieved through a compound arch.

The anti-drinking crusaders stayed about ten years before ownership reverted back to the town. The first silent moving pictures in Moorestown were screened here. Flower shows were staged here. The town’s first police station was located here. The township offices eventually moved to a new municipal center in 1975.

Cheraw, South Carolina

The Masons helped foot the bill for this Greek Revival temple in 1858 and used it as a meeting place. The new building was pressed into service as a hospital during the Civil War. It was also an opera house at one time. The graceful wrought iron double staircase is believed to have been designed by Christopher Werner of Charleston.

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Built between 1814 and 1817, the Old Lehigh County Courthouse is the oldest active courthouse
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was altered in 1841 to show a new style.

Quincy, Massachusetts

About 200 years after settlement and 50 years after incorporating as a town, the residents finally voted to build a townhouse in 1841. The two-story Greek Revival government building, with its gable facing onto the street, was completed in 1844.

Architect Solomon Willard naturally used native blue-grey granite in its construction. Willard had designed the Bunker Hill Monument two decades earlier and it was his decision to use hefty blocks of Quincy granite that triggered the stone quarrying boom around town. Willard provided the new town hall with exacting granite details, including an entry through fluted Ionic pilasters. Perhaps because its citizens waited so long for a town hall when a more expansive City Hall was required just 40 years later rather than tear down the building - as was the general practice around the country - it was retained and altered.

Mclntyre Mall, adjacent to City Hall, was constructed in 1981 and named in honor of police Captain William F. McIntyre, father of James R. McIntyre, who was Mayor of the City of Quincy from 1965 to 1971. On November 3, 1985, City Hall was designated the James R. McIntyre Government Center.