The Monticello Courthouse Square Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in downtown Monticello, Illinois. The district includes the historic commercial center of the city, the county seat of Piatt County, and is centered on the Piatt County Courthouse. 80 buildings are included in the district, 73 of which are considered contributing to its historic character. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 2009.

History

Monticello was founded in 1837 as a commercial center for the future Piatt County, which was considered too far from Decatur to reasonably conduct trade there. The original town plat covers all but four blocks of the historic district, with the remainder coming from one of the city's first additions. When Piatt County was formed in 1841, Monticello was named the county seat, and its population and development both increased in the ensuing years. Merchant J.C. Johnson built the city's first brick building at 204-206 West Washington Street in 1856; the building is the oldest surviving structure in the district. In the same year, Monticello gained its own newspaper, the ''Monticello Times'', and the county built a new courthouse. Development accelerated further after the Illinois Central Railroad and Chicago and Paducah Railroad began service to Monticello in the 1870s. The city received a major civic development in 1897, when the Town Hall and Opera House and the Allerton Library both opened in a new building. The third county courthouse, which still serves as the seat of county government, was built in 1903-04; by this point, the courthouse square had become the established center of local commerce.

Architecture

The Piatt County Courthouse, the focal point of the district, is a Classical Revival building designed by

Urbana __NOTOC__ Urbana can refer to: Places Italy *Urbana, Italy United States *Urbana, Illinois **Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois *Urbana, Indiana * Urbana, Iowa *Urbana, Kansas * Urbana, Maryland *Urbana, ...

architect Joseph W. Royer. The three-story building is built with red brick and features limestone decorations. Each side of the building features an entrance pavilion. On the north and south sides, the pavilions are divided by Ionic pilasters topped by a

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 ...

; the east and west pavilions are projecting and have two pilasters each. Triangular pediments with dentillated cornices top these two facades, and a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

encircles the roof of the building. The courthouse's corners, including those on the projecting pavilions, feature limestone

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s. The Italianate style is most prevalent among the district's commercial buildings, as 25 buildings feature the style. The prevalence of the style is a reflection of the district's growth in the late 19th century, the peak of the style's popularity in America. Several of the Italianate buildings feature cast iron storefronts, a popular decorative feature for commercial buildings at the time. The district also features eighteen vernacular interpretations of the

Commercial Style Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. Much of its early work is also known as Commercial Style. In the history of architecture, the first Chicago School was a school of architec ...

. The Romanesque Revival style makes a prominent appearance in the town hall and library building, which features a stone arched entrance and contrasting brickwork and stonework. Other styles featured in the district include the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style in the First Presbyterian Church; the Stick Style in the Wabash Depot; the Dutch Colonial Revival style in two houses; and the

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

style in the Country Charm Dairy Bar.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Italianate architecture in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Buildings and structures in Piatt County, Illinois Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Piatt County, Illinois Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois