The Old Martin County Court House, built in 1937, is a historic

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 ...

style courthouse building located at 80 East Ocean Boulevard in Stuart,

Martin County, Florida Martin County ( es, Condado de Martín, link=) is a county located in the Treasure Coast region of the state of Florida, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,431. Its county seat is Stuart. Martin County is in t ...

. In 1989, it was listed in ''A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture'', published by the University of Florida Press. On November 7, 1997, it was added to the U.S.

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 ...

. On March 15, 2007, it was added to the Martin County Historic Register by the Martin County Historic Preservation Board. It is now known as the Courthouse Cultural Center and is the headquarters of the Arts Council, Inc., the designated local arts agency for Martin County.

Building history

The building was designed by architect L. Phillips Clarke of

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and built by Chalker & Lund of poured concrete walls with

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

floors in the

style for the

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as a northern addition to the first Martin County courthouse, which had been built in 1908 as a

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

public school building and converted to courthouse use after Martin County was created in 1925.Services – Office of Cultural & Historical Programs
/ref> The four words, Martin County Court House, were prominently etched into the front of the addition, where they still remain. Because of this, both the National Register and the Cultural Center have retained the two-word spelling of courthouse even though the one-word version is the preferred one. In 1954, the county bought a building to the west that had been used as an automobile dealership by Web Ordway

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and later as an A & P grocery store and converted it into a courthouse annex. At the same time, the county extended the original courthouse and the 1937 addition west to abut the annex and joined their hallways. The county also extended the 1937 addition and the old school house on the east side. Both of these 1954 additions were bland, utilitarian structures of no particular architectural merit. Later when the county outgrew this assemblage of buildings, it decided to build a new courthouse and constitutional officers complex to the south of the original courthouse and to tear down the original courthouse, all additions and the annex. The City of Stuart, though, with much public support, prevailed on the county commission to save the 1937 addition and to use it as a cultural center. There was some sentiment to save the original schoolhouse building, but this was determined not to be feasible.

Resources

* ''Florida's Historic Courthouses'' by Hampton Dunn ()

References

External links

1964 Stuart, Florida, Travelogue by E. W. Dutton

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National Register of Historic Places

Court House Cultural Center
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Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

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Note this website features a picture of 1he 1937 addition shortly after it was built.
ArchiPlanet Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin County Courthouse, Old County courthouses in Florida National Register of Historic Places in Martin County, Florida Art Deco architecture in Florida Art Deco courthouses Martin County Local Historic Register Works Progress Administration in Florida 1937 establishments in Florida Government buildings completed in 1937