The Washington County Courthouse is located at 85 Court Street in
Machias, the county seat of
Washington County, Maine
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2010 census, its population was 31,095, making it the third-least populous county in Maine. Its county seat is Machias. The county was established on June 25, 1789. ...
. Now home to the Machias District Court and other county offices, it is an 1853 Italianate brick building designed by
Benjamin S. Deane
Benjamin S. Deane (1790–1867) was an American master builder and architect in practice in Bangor, Maine from circa 1832 to 1867.Deborah Thompson, ''Bangor, Maine, 1769-1914: An Architectural History'' (Orono: University of Maine Press, 1988)
...
and 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 1976.
Description and history
The Washington County Courthouse is located at the corner of Cooper and Court Streets in the center of Machias, between the
Washington County Jail (to which it is now attached by a modern ell) and the local post office. It is a 2-1/2 story brick building, with a gabled roof and granite foundation. The roof is topped by a square tower whose second stage is an open belfry with round-arch openings and pilastered corners, with a bracketed cornice above. The front-facing gable is fully pedimented, with modillioned and dentillated eaves and cornice, and a round window at the center of the triangular pediment. First floor windows are set in segmented-arch openings that are surrounded by recessed panels. Second floor windows on the front and the first bay on the side are tall segmented-arch sash windows, that extend into the brickwork of the cornice, while other windows on the sides are shorter round-arch sash. The first and second floors are separated by a granite stringcourse, and the second-floor bays are articulated by brick pilasters.
The courthouse was built in 1853 to a design by
Bangor architect
Benjamin S. Deane
Benjamin S. Deane (1790–1867) was an American master builder and architect in practice in Bangor, Maine from circa 1832 to 1867.Deborah Thompson, ''Bangor, Maine, 1769-1914: An Architectural History'' (Orono: University of Maine Press, 1988)
...
, an apparently self-trained architect originally from
Thomaston. Deane is one of the first professional architects known to be working in
Down East Maine
"Down East", also "Downeast", is a term for parts of eastern coastal New England and Canada, particularly the U.S. state of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces, an area that closely corresponds to the historical French territory of Acadia. Th ...
, and is also credited with the
Waldo County
Waldo County is a county in the state of Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,607. Its county seat is Belfast. The county was founded on 7 February 1827 from a portion of Hancock County and named after ...
courthouse, a similar transitional Greek Revival-Italianate design.
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See also
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References
External links
Maine.gov: Machias District Court
{{Washington County, Maine
County courthouses in Maine
Buildings and structures in Washington County, Maine
Machias, Maine
Government buildings completed in 1853
Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Maine
1853 establishments in Maine
Greek Revival architecture in Maine
Italianate architecture in Maine