The Johnson County Courthouse in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, the

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 ...

of Johnson County, United States, was completed in 1901; it was the second courthouse to stand at this location. The building was listed on 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 1975.

History

Johnson County's first courthouse was a two-story frame structure built in 1838 in Napoleon. After the county seat was moved to Iowa City a , two-story brick courthouse, was completed in 1842. A jail was built at the same time. The first courthouse built on the present courthouse square was built about 1856, but the records are unclear as to its specifications. In 1875 a suggestion was made that the courthouse should be donated to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, and the city and county would build a joint facility. The measure was to be put to the voters, but it never appeared on a ballot. By 1897 cracks were detected on the south wall, endangering the structure and the records it housed. Construction on the present courthouse began in 1899. The building was completed in 1901 for approximately $111,000. Its slate roof was damaged in a 2006 tornado.

Architecture

A. William Rush of the

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

architectural firm of Rush, Bowman and Rush designed the building. The courthouse was built on a square south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

with a commanding view of the surrounding area. with It is notable for its fine Berea sandstone exterior carvings and interior stained glass domes. Stylistically, it features characteristics of three architectural trends from the era it was built: the arched openings and massiveness of 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 ...

; the vegetal ornamentation of

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

above the main entrance; and the voluminous geometric massing of the Shingle Style. The central tower rises out of the rectangular-plan building. The irregular roofline is composed of

conical roof A conical roof or cone roof is a cone-shaped roof that is circular at its base and terminates in a point. Distribution Conical roofs are frequently found on top of towers in medieval town fortifications and castles, where they may either sit ...

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s and the step

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s of the end

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

References

External links

{{NRHP in Iowa City, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1901 County courthouses in Iowa Towers in Iowa Buildings and structures in Iowa City, Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Iowa City, Iowa Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Iowa Shingle Style architecture in Iowa 1901 establishments in Iowa

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links