The Montgomery County Circuit Courthouses are part of the Montgomery County Judicial Center located in downtown Rockville,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The Red Brick Courthouse, located at 29 Courthouse Square, houses the refurbished Grand Courtroom; the newer Circuit Court building, located at 50 Maryland Avenue, houses the remainder of the county's justice system.

Circuit Court for Montgomery County building

The Montgomery County Judicial Center, a

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

building constructed in the 1980s, houses the Montgomery County Circuit Court, the Offices of the Sheriff, the Register of wills, the Orphans' Court and the State's Attorney for Montgomery County. The Judicial Center and District Court buildings, together with the Rockville City Hall are located in downtown Rockville, Maryland, at the corner of Maryland Avenue and Jefferson Street (Rte 28). The District Court is on the west side of Maryland Avenue, across the street from the Judicial Center.

History

There have been four court houses in Rockville since it was established as the County seat in 1776. Court was originally held at the Hungerford Tavern until a frame court house was erected in the 1790s. By 1810, a new court house was needed. In 1835 the General Assembly authorized a new brick court house and then again in 1890, the later which was built in a

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. In 1931 the grey Neoclassical style courthouse was constructed and connected to the 1890 court house to suit the county's growing population. The grey courthouse now serves as home to the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County. From 1927 to 1954, the lower level of the courthouse served as the headquarters of the

Montgomery County Police Department The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), officially the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCP), is a nationally accredited agency and the primary law enforcement agency of Montgomery County, Maryland, providing the full spectrum ...

Historic District

There are several buildings 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 ...

within the area; they all make up the Montgomery County Courthouse Historic District, which was designated in 1986. The district is focused on what remains of Rockville's old commercial, governmental, and residential center, most of which was demolished during

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

in the 1960s. The district includes two county courthouses, the 1891 red brick

structure and the 1931 Neo-classical granite building with a 1960s addition, the 1939 Georgian-styled Post Office of limestone construction, and the 1930

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 ...

stone structure built for the Farmers Banking and Trust Company. It extends over an area of two city blocks. The 1891 courthouse was designed by prominent Baltimore architect Frank E. Davis.

References

External links

*, including photo in 1975, at Maryland Historical Trust website {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland County courthouses in Maryland Government buildings completed in 1891 Romanesque Revival architecture in Maryland Buildings and structures in Rockville, Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Maryland