Vineland, New Jersey

The city office building of concrete and brick was constructed in 1971 at a cost of $4.4 million. It was designed in such a way that the the heat generated by lights in the interior of the building is actually re-used to heat the peripheries. So you may see City Hall lit any time of the night since it is actually creating a net savings.

Laurel, Delaware

This structure was built in 1937 for the town offices, jail and firehouse. The second floor was a social activity center. With expansion of services the fire department moved to Tenth Street and the building was renovated in 1993.

Snow Hill, Maryland

Finished in 1908, this building once housed both the fire department and the Snow Hill town offices. The first floor featured a wide entrance for the fire equipment to get in and out easily but when the fire company relocated around the corner on Green Street, the ground floor was refitted for the more classically appointed doorway seen today. Otherwise the building’s exterior has remained unchanged, including the metal cornice that wraps around three sides of the brick building, supported by a poured concrete foundation.

Watertown, New York

Prolific Syracuse architect Horatio Nelson White designed three nearly identical courthouses like this one in New York between 1857 and 1862; only Jefferson County’s from 1862 survives. The vibrantly decorated Italianate structure features rich red brick with limestone strim. It is highlighted by a square, three-story tower. For many years the building was coated and a sandblasting in 1952 revealed its lavish details but also hastened deterioration.

Slatersville, Rhode Island

Henry Kendall bought the village in the early 1900s with a mind for preservation and renovation. He added a great deal of Greek Revival architectural trim on the mill houses to make them less distinct as mill housing as he did not believe in class distinctions. You can see his handiwork up ahead on mill houses built on Green Street. In 1921 he donated this land for construction of the North Smithfield Town Hall. A hotel and boarding house had previously occupied this property.

Branford, Connecticut

The Branford Town Hall on the Green was built in 1857 in the Greek Revival style, the front pillars and stucco were added in 1917.

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport was chartered as a city in 1851 and the cornerstone was laid and dedicated for the home of the new government on July 4, 1850. The brick building with brownstone trim constructed in the Italianate style was ready for business just eight months later.

Pottsville, Pennsylvania

This is the county’s third courthouse, the second on this site. The first courthouse was a two-story brick structure built at a total cost of $5,000. It was a simple building with the courtroom on the first floor, and jury rooms and public offices on the second. The first court was held there in 1816. In 1846 the ground at Second and Sanderson Streets was selected for the erection of the new courthouse. On this site stood the homestead of George Farquhar, a prominent member of the county bar. In this house his son, Guy E., who also was destined to become a prominent county attorney, was born. In 1914 Guy, while arguing a case, was suddenly stricken ill and died on the very spot of his birth.

The current courthouse is adjacent to the courthouse it replaced, which was vacated and eventually torn down upon completion of the new structure. A massive cornerstone about two cubic feet in size took more than an hour to maneuver into place when it was laid in 1889. It contains a large hollow space filled with artifacts from 1889, such as a copy of the construction contract; copy of the bond issue; copy of the rules of court; trial list for September, 1889 term; photograph of the first courthouse built in Pottsville; bottle of Catawba wine made by Court Crier Seitzinger in 1886; several old coins; and a list of County officials and their employees. The five-story Romanesque structure constructed from Ohio sandstone cost $320,000, almost $180,000 over the initial estimate.

Hagerstown, Maryland

This is Washington County’s third courthouse. When the county was established in 1776, the first courthouse, a combination building that served also as a market house, was built in the middle of the town square, one block east of here. It proved too small to house the government and too big and obstacle in the square. The county’s affairs were moved to a new courthouse built on the site of the present building and designed by United State Capitol architect Benjamin Latrobe in 1816. That building burned in December 1871. The cornerstone of the present building was laid on October 9th, 1872. The design was by H. A. and J. P. Simms of Philadelphia and the construction was by Robert C. Thornburg. Just over a year later, on January 2, 1874, the County Commissioners accepted the completed courthouse and held their first meeting there. The Italianate style architecture of the building is unusual for this part of Maryland. An annex, attached in the rear was added in 1963.

Binghamton, New York

This is the fourth Broome County courthouse and the third on this site. Go-to Binghamton architect Isaac G. Perry provided the classical design as a replacement for its predecessor  that burned in 1896. Perry used Ohio sandstone trimmed with bluestone under a copper dome that rises from a central octagonal base. In front of the courthouse resides a statue of Daniel S. Dickinson, executed by A. G. Newman. In the Democratic National Convention of 1852 Dickinson refused the nomination of to be his party’s candidate to run for the Presidency out of loyalty to General Lewis Cass, to whom he was pledged.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

In the early 1900s, as the downtown area grew, many grand buildings were constructed to serve the
growing needs of the community, as well as local and state governments. One of those impressive
new structures, a cut-stone building, was designed in 1910 by prominent architect, Charles Lloyd,
to serve as Tech High School. In 1928, Harrisburg’s city government moved in and many dramatic
changes were made to make the interior as imposing as the facade. A grand staircase in the lobby,
offset by oak paneling, marble and brass accents and a cast plaster ceiling were a few of the unique
architectural details added. In 1982 the building was given new life when Historic Landmarks For
Living transformed it into a luxury loft apartment building.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

City Center was developed of granite and quartzite in 1967 and contains civic buildings, the Town Hall rotunda and town library. The Symbol of Progress  is 60 feet high and weighs 12,000 pounds. Joseph Greenberg of Philadelphia designed the sculpture to be representative of the diversity of Bethlehem’s people welded in the pursuit of progress. It is made of Bethlehem Mayari-R Steel. Also in the plaza, on the west side of the library, is a Japanese garden that was a gift to Bethlehem from its sister city in the Land of the Rising Sun, Tondabayashi.

Walterboro, South Carolina

In 1975 this building was remodeled with a Palladian facade of four Doric columns to compliment the courthouse across the street. The original structrue was completed in 1940 as A Depression-era project.

Newtown, Pennsylvania

The borough was splintered off from the township in 1838 and this Greek Revival building put into operation in 1858. It is said to be the oldest building in Pennsylvania still serving its original purpose as borough chambers. The small building did double duty until the 1940s, also serving as the town lock-up. Oddly, the first “guest” of the town was the mason who built the walls, incarcerated behind his own handiwork for pig stealing.

Ridgeway, South Carolina

This red brick building with Romanesque arches was the Town Hall when it was built in 1904. The courtroom was located upstairs and jail cells were in the back and can still be seen in the restaurant that operates in the building today. Over the years it has hosted many different businesses in addition to taking care of the town’s municipal needs.

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

The original wing of the Greek Revival courthouse was built in 1856-57 with private funds pledged
during the movement to encourage the division of Union into Union and Snyder counties and the
election of a new county seat. Lewis Palmer was the designer and Henry Noll was the head carpenter.
The Greek Revival style, which drew inspiration from ancient Greek temples, is bold, formal and
simple. Popular throughout the 19th century, the Greek Revival style is well suited for churches,
schools, government buildings, and houses. Note the corner pilasters (flattened columns that stand
out in relief from the wall); imposing columns with Ionic capitals; and the classical triangular
pediment with Greek dentils above the capitals. A fine example of a cupola, with recently restored
copper roof, houses the bell donated by Simon Cameron, Secretary of War in President Lincoln’s
cabinet. The new complementary addition was to the Union County courthouse was completed in 1973.

Dover, Delaware

A much admired High Victorian municipal building from the 1870s was moved and later
demolished to make room in the early 1970s for this conceptually correct Colonial Revival structure
that would look at home in the Virginia Tidewater region.

Ligonier, Pennsylvania

This Colonial Revival government building replaced the historic Ligonier House on the Diamond in 1967.

Milford, Pennsylvania

E.S. Wolfe designed this building for the town government offices to greet a new century in a new building. He used indigenous bluestone, often seen around town not only in buildings but sidewalks as well. When built in 1899 the tower was capped with an open metal form to support the fire alarm bell.

Allentown, Pennsylvania

In need of a new building for city offices, the five-story City Hall, the three story Public Safety
building, and a three level parking deck were built (1963-1964) as part of the Allentown
Redevelopment civic center plan. The Redevelopment Authority cleared the area between 4th and
5th Streets of blighted and deteriorated buildings by purchasing and razing structures. On August
4, 1964, the first building permit was issued from the 435 Hamilton Street location.

City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor, City Council, City Clerk, and the main offices of
the Legal, Community and Economic Development, Administration and Finance, and Human
Resources Departments. The Public Safety building houses the Police Administration offices and
serves as headquarters for the Allentown Police Department.

Greenwich, Connecticut

The first Greenwich town meetings were held at irregular intervals in private homes and schoolhouses. A regular town meeting hall was built in the 1760s on Putnam Avenue near the site of the Second Congregational Church. During the Revolutionary War it was used as a guard house for the Greenwich Artillery Company and subsequently burned by the British. Back into private houses went the town council for decades until a new town building was constructed in 1836. After two score years the town business had outgrown the little space and began adjourning in public halls. The abandoned building, on the site of the Soldier’s Monument, was used as a jail for a short time but burned on October 15, 1874. Finally this Beaux Arts building, constructed on plans from Smith,W.J., Mowbray & Uffinger, was dedicated amidst great fanfare on October 19, 1905. Since the 1970s the Greenwich Arts Council has operated out of the former Greenwich Town Hall, as well as a senior center.