The Barbour County Courthouse in

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...

, Barbour County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, USA is a monumental public building constructed between 1903 and 1905 in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style. It dominates the town center and is the county's chief symbol of government. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1980.

History

Original courthouse

The original Barbour County Courthouse was a large brick building with a white painted wood-frame

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

portico. It was built between 1844 and '46. From its octagonal

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

, in 1861, floated the first

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

in what would become the state of West Virginia. Later, the building was used to house

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

troops during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The dilapidated cupola was removed in 1893 and placed on the nearby barn owned by lawyer C.F. Teter.

Present courthouse

J. Charles Fulton of

Uniontown, Pennsylvania Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Greater Pittsburgh Region. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census, down from 12,422 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat and ...

was contracted in 1901 and designed the present courthouse building in the

(

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

) style. It was constructed by contractor J.P. Conn during 1903–1905. The 1905 structure was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. A restoration effort began in 1995 and included repair and replacement of the original stained glass interior dome. This project was named "Best Interior Rehabilitation Project" in 1999 by the Main Street Project of the West Virginia Development Office.

Description

The Barbour County Courthouse is situated in Court Square, facing Main Street, in Philippi. Its plan is a modified rectangle of solid masonry about 95 feet across the front elevation and 60 feet across the sides.

Exterior

The exterior of the building is constructed of

Hummelstown brownstone Hummelstown brownstone is a medium-grain, dense sandstone quarried near Hummelstown in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a dark brownstone with reddish to purplish hues, and was once widely used as a building stone in the United States. ...

, a high-quality, medium-grain, dense sandstone quarried near

Hummelstown Hummelstown is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,535 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Originally named Fredrickstown, the town was establi ...

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and nint ...

. At the time, the stone would have traveled to

via the Brownstone to Middletown Railroad and the

Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad The Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad is a shortline railroad which operates freight train, freight and Heritage railway, tourist passenger trains between Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Middletown to Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. Passe ...

. This stone is dark brown with reddish to purplish hues. The entirety of the exterior

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stonework is rusticated with the exception of the smooth

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s defining the arcuated portal and window openings and the stringcourses and window sills. The overall impression created is one of mass and dignity. The 2 ½ story structure rests on a raised basement and is dominated by a colossal offset tower to the left of the massive main entrance portal and by smaller, secondary prominences such as steeply pitched

wall dormer A wall dormer is a dormer whose facial plane is integral with the facial plane of the wall that it is built into, breaking the line of the eaves of a building. Wall dormers are less commonly seen than typical “roof dormers”. They locate the w ...

s and an octagonal turret on the corner to the right of the main portal. This massive portal is flanked on its left by a large smooth shaft column with Byzantine capital; the place of its mate on the opposite side is occupied by the heavy main tower. The

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s of the portal arch are decorated with a delicate, foliate relief pattern. The massive, square tower, which looms asymmetrically to the left of the main portal, encompasses four stories, each delineated by smooth stone stringcourses. Its open belfry, with double, arched openings on each of the four sides, is crowned by a pyramidal roof whose four

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

ed corners each terminate at the cornice level in a small spire. A stringcourse just below the cornice carries (just above the chamfered corners of the belfry superstructure) four

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

-like, projecting blocks of stone, which may be sculptor's blocks left unfinished. The arched, tripartite window immediately above the main portal is echoed by similar window treatments in the wall dormers and another just to its left. The main window above the portal and the one in the front elevation dormer are adorned with smooth shaft

colonnette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ...

s. These arched windows, as well as the building's other, flat-headed window openings (also arranged in threes) are embellished with

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

transoms and smooth transom bars.

Aesthetic merit

An authority on the

Hummelstown Brownstone Company From 1863 to 1929, the Hummelstown Brownstone Company owned and operated quarries in the Hummelstown, Pennsylvania area which produced Hummelstown brownstone, once widely used as a building stone throughout the US. The quarries of the Hummelstown B ...

, which supplied the stone of which the courthouse is constructed, has said:

As impressive as many of the buildings trimmed in ummelstownbrownstone are, nothing can match the magnificence of those structures built primarily of brownstone. Perhaps the most impressive extant public building built entirely of Hummelstown brownstone is the Barbour County Courthouse in Philippi, West Virginia ... Erected in 1903, it remains a testament to the finest expectations that the public at large at the turn of the century wanted to see in their municipal architecture. Crowned with a tile roof, the alternating narrow and wide bands of rock face masonry contrast with the smooth finish of the arch and its Rococo embellishment.Olena, Ben F., "Brownstone Revisited: The Hummelstown Brownstone Industry", In ''The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc.'', September 2003, pg 14.