The Jefferson County Courthouse in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

is the main

county courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

Jefferson County, Alabama Jefferson County is the List of counties in Alabama, most populous county in the U.S. state of Alabama, located in the central portion of the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 674,721. Its county seat i ...

. It is the county's sixth main courthouse building, and the third in Birmingham. The cornerstone was laid in 1929, and the building was completed in 1932. The prior courthouse was demolished in 1937. The new courthouse 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 1982.

History

It was designed by Chicago architectural firm

Holabird & Root The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

, who also designed

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since 1 ...

. ''See also:'' The courthouse's

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

design features limestone

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

panels by sculptor

Leo Friedlander Leo Friedlander (July 6, 1888 – October 24, 1966) was an American sculptor, who has made several prominent works. Friedlander studied at the Art Students League in New York City, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Brussels and Paris, and the America ...

depicting local history and the city's industrial influences, and also includes geometric designs resembling swastikas. The lobby interior features large-scale painted murals by

John W. Norton John Warner Norton (7 March 1876 – 7 January 1934) was an American painter and muralist who pioneered the field in the United States. Norton was born in Lockport, Illinois, the son of John Lyman Norton and Ada Clara Gooding Norton. The family ...

contrasting the "Old South" to the "New South." The courthouse adjoins the

Birmingham Public Library The Birmingham Public Library, one of the largest library systems in the southeastern United States, consists of 19 branches and a main or central library located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The main library is composed of two buildings, th ...

on the east side of Linn Park. It faces across to Birmingham's City Hall, which was completed in 1950. Other public buildings around the park, which serves as a "municipal plaza," include

Boutwell Auditorium Boutwell Memorial Auditorium is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built in 1924 as Birmingham's Municipal Auditorium, on a site near City Hall, facing Capitol Park (now Linn Park). The building was designed ...

, the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

and the Birmingham Board of Education Building. An International style annex, also dressed in limestone, was built in 1963–64.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Birmingham, Alabama Government buildings completed in 1929 County courthouses in Alabama Art Deco architecture in Alabama Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Projects by Holabird & Root {{Alabama-NRHP-stub