The Bristol County Courthouse Complex Historic District contains three historic buildings located along Court Street in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, including the Bristol County Superior Courthouse, the Bristol County Registry of Deeds and the former First District Courthouse. The city's Korean War and World War II Memorials are also located on the lawn in front of the superior courthouse. The Bristol County Courthouse Complex directly abuts the

Taunton Green The Taunton Green Historic District encompasses the core area of the historic 19th-century commercial downtown business district of Taunton, Massachusetts. It is centered on the town green, laid out in the 1740s, and now stands at the intersect ...

Historic District, the City's central square. In 2008, an $86 million expansion and renovation project began at the site which is scheduled to include the construction of a new trial court and restoration of the superior courthouse.

Bristol County Superior Courthouse

The Bristol County Superior Courthouse was designed by architect

Frank Irving Cooper Frank Irving Cooper (May 8, 1867 – October 23, 1933) was an American architect from Massachusetts who designed many public buildings during his career, including the Bristol County Superior Courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, and dozens of s ...

from nearby Bridgewater and built in 1894 in the Romanesque-style. The stone structure contains a tall central tower capped with a copper-clad dome, constructed of Guastavino tile.Walking Tours Taunton, Massachusetts; a guide to historic properties, 1998 The building's large

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

is also entirely clad in copper. The superior courthouse is the fourth courthouse to be located on or near this site since 1747, when

became the shire town (

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

) for

Bristol County, Massachusetts Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...

, after

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

was split off from the Bay State and became part of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. The dome was originally topped with a 15-foot copper flame, which was taken down in 2003 after being deemed a "potential hazard." Despite some calls to restore it, the 300-pound torch remains in storage as of 2015. Since 2013, the courthouse has been home to a pair of nesting peregrine falcons.

also contains historic superior courthouses in

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

and

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

Law Library

The district's law library is located in the upper floor dome section of the courthouse. It includes dozens of stacks of various law-related publications, including other library services.

War Memorials

Located on the front lawn of the superior courthouse are the city of Taunton's memorials to the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(installed in 1987) and the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

(installed in 1988).

Bristol County Registry of Deeds

The Bristol County Registry of Deeds is located at 11 Court Street, just north of the superior courthouse. It was built in 1904 and designed by architect Albion M. Marble of

. It is constructed in brick and limestone in the Colonial Revival style. Together with a location in

Attleboro Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. Attleboro is ...

, the Registry of Deeds contains all the property transaction records for the northern part of

.Registry of Deeds, Taunton
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Taunton District Courthouse

The ''former'' Taunton District Courthouse is a

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 ...

-style building located at 15 Court Street. It was originally constructed in 1826 as the county courthouse at the site of the current superior courthouse, but moved to its current location in the 1890s. Constructed in red brick, the building features a white wooden portico and copper-capped

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 ...

on the roof. The building has been plagued by water leakage and other structural problems, and also did not meet current

ADA Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tur ...

regulations which led to the district court business to be moved to a temporary location in the city of

. Court activity ceased in 2008 and the building remained vacant until being purchased at auction in 2012. In 2018 the purchaser opened the newly restored building to the public as a theater named the District Center for the Arts. In addition to structual improvements an elevator was built making the building ADA compliant.

References

External links

Mass.Gov: Bristol Probate and Family CourtArchitects Listing with Frank Irving Cooper and Biography ListedThe District Center for the Arts - the nonprofit theater located in the former Bristol County District courthouse located at 15 Court St
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Taunton, Massachusetts Historic districts in Bristol County, Massachusetts Towers in Massachusetts County courthouses in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Taunton, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts