Sussex County Courthouse and the Circle is a historic

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 ...

located at The Circle in Georgetown,

Sussex County, Delaware Sussex County is located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 237,378. The county seat is Georgetown. The first European settlement in the state of Delaware w ...

. It was designed by noted Philadelphia architect William Strickland (1788–1854) and built between 1837 and 1840. It is a two-story, brick structure with a brick tower over the entrance hall. It originally featured a squat entrance tower surmounted by an undersized cupola. In 1914, the tower was enlarged and columns were added to the front. Renovations carried out in 1970 gave the building a decidedly more

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

appearance. The Circle was laid out in 1791-1792 as a public green at the center of a baroque town plan for Georgetown. One of the first building constructed was the

Old Sussex County Courthouse Old Sussex County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware. It was built in 1793, and is a two-story, five-bay, frame structure in a late Georgian style. It is sheathed in cypress shingles. It was mov ...

, which was moved to allow construction of the current Sussex County Courthouse. and ' The site 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 1973.

Gallery

Sussex County Courthouse 2020c.jpg, Side view The Circle Georgetown 2020a.jpg, Fountain at the center of the Circle

References

External links

Sussex County government website

Delaware Public Archives: Sussex County Courthouse
County courthouses in Delaware Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Georgian architecture in Delaware Government buildings completed in 1840 Buildings and structures in Georgetown, Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware U.S. Route 9 {{Delaware-NRHP-stub