The Lee County Courthouse, also known as the South Lee County Courthouse and the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is a historic building located in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

, United States.

History

The main building was built from the laying the foundation in April 1887 to its completion on September 30, 1888. The building was designed by Mifflin E. Bell, the Supervising Architect of the US Treasury Department. The corner tower was originally built at five stories, but was extended to seven stories in 1890.

James H. Windrim James Hamilton Windrim (January 4, 1840 – April 26, 1919) was a Philadelphia architect who specialized in public buildings, including the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia and the U.S. Treasury. A number the buildings he designed are on the ...

was the Treasury Department's Supervising Architect at that time. In 1956 an addition was built onto the rear of the building to add space to the workroom. The building served historically as a Federal courthouse on the upper floors and as a post office on the first floor. with It 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 1974. The building was acquired by Lee County and renovated in 1992 as a courthouse for the southern part of the county. The

Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repres ...

had established Keokuk as the second

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 ...

in 1848, making Lee County as the only Iowa county that has more than one courthouse. The Sullivan Line was used to divide the county into northern and southern sections. Previous buildings that served as the county courthouse in Keokuk include the Sanford Medical College and the old YWCA Building.

Architecture

The three-story brick structure from the 1880s measures . It reflects Late Victorian and "round-arch Victorian" architecture. The basement and foundation are composed of Bedford limestone. Limestone is also used for the building's trim and

belt course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

s. The windows on all three floors utilize the round-arch, and they decrease in size from the first to the third floor. A large wall

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

is located in the center of the main facade. Two roof dormers originally flanked it, but they were removed at some point. Wall dormers are also located on the west and south elevations. The

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 ...

section on west side of the third floor features

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

decorative work and corner

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. Similar terracotta panels are located elsewhere on the building. The back of the building features the same decorative work as the front. The first level of the tower on the third floor of the building is original. The next two levels were designed for the 1890 extension, and the top two section are from the original design and reflect the two sections that were removed. The rear addition is also red brick and follows a simple utilitarian style.

References

{{Lee County NRHP Government buildings completed in 1887 Buildings and structures in Keokuk, Iowa Victorian architecture in Iowa County courthouses in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Lee County, Iowa Keokuk Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Clock towers in Iowa

History

Architecture

See also

References