USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > The courts of justice, bench & bar of Washington County, Pennsylvania > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
Those portions of the front which adjoin the buttresses, and which are composed of the secondary wings of the build- ing, are slightly in recess. They are heavily paneled, and finished with a handsome corbeled cornice, surmounted by an elaborate balustraded railing.
The north and south corners of the building project to a line with the central portion, and on the front sides are surmounted by finely molded entablatures, which rest on two thirty-six-foot pilasters, inside of which are columns of the same size, ornamented with Scamozzi capitals, while the upper edge of the northern and southern sides sup- ports a carved sandstone balustraded railing.
The two main wings, in which are located the two prin- cipal court-rooms, extend north and south seventy feet from the main building, facing Beau Street and Cherry Avenue. On the Beau Street side a handsome doorway, with heavy sandstone lintels and massive mahogany doors, leads into the basement through a vestibule lined with Italian marble, having heavy leather brass-studded doors. Artistic bronze lamps project from either side. This doorway is surmounted by a balcony, along the front edge of which runs an ornate stone railing. From this balcony spring four thirty-six-foot monolith columns with Scamozzi capitals, which at the top
130
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
of the second story support a heavily carved cornice adorned with corbels. Above the cornice rises a superb frontal sur- mounted by an elaborately carved and molded entablature.
The south main wing is approached from Cherry Avenue by a flight of seventeen granite steps, which rise between two massive sandstone pillars adorned with bronze lamps similar to those in front of the main entrance.
These steps lead up to a magnificently carved doorway having heavy mahogany doors, which give entrance to the first floor through a lofty vestibule lined with Italian marble, having an inner pair of doors covered with leather and brass- studded. The front of this wing is also adorned with four monolith columns with Scamozzi capitals, a superb frontal, and elaborate entablature.
The secondary wings on the northwestern and southwest- ern corners project ten feet on the western side, and between them rises the semi-rotunda-shaped rear of the main build- ing, which extends thirteen feet beyond the wings. The en- tire rear is constructed of heavily paneled sandstone, finished at the edge of the roof with a deep corbel-ornamented cornice surmounted by a handsome balustraded railing. The roof is entirely composed of red Japanese tiling, with heavily leaded gutters.
The central part of the main building, between the vesti- bules, the semi- rotunda in the rear, and the two wings, is seventy feet square. On the outside corners of its walls, rising above the roof of the building, are four highly orna- mental cupolas twenty-five feet high, whose terra-cotta domes rest on sandstone Ionic columns. Within these four cupolas rises the base of the dome thirty-two feet above the roof. It is graced with an elaborately decorated cornice, and con- tains twelve windows. Above this cornice the dome itself springs to a height of twenty-eight feet. It is divided into twelve segments, between which gleam rose and paneled skylights of art glass. From the summit of the dome rises a cupola sixteen feet high, on the top of which rests a heroic statue of George Washington eighteen feet in height. The
COLONEL ALEXANDER . LEROY HAWKINS COMMANDER OF THE TENTH REGIMENTETATIONAL GUARD" BOEN .SEPTEMBER 6:BTS OF ITERHSYLVATI
ERECTED BYTHE COPIL OF THE KEYSTORE-STATE INSRECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICE.TO THE STATE AND THE NATION IN PEACE AND WAR
BRACCON.
MURAL TABLET,
IN MEMORY OF COL. ALEXANDER LEROY HAWKINS, [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph by Hallam.]
131
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
material of which the dome and its accessories are con- structed is composed entirely of terra -cotta, and it rises six feet above the inner dome which overhangs the area in the center of the building. From the floor of the third cor- ridor to the top of the statue the distance is ninety-four feet, and it is just two hundred and five feet above the pavement of the basement beneath.
The court-house is furnished with every convenience neces- sary for the comfort of those either employed or having busi- ness within its portals.
Aside from the main stairway, it is provided with a large hydraulic passenger-elevator, which is situated to the right as one enters the front of the building, and runs from the basement to the third floor. It is provided with a very handsome and ornate car composed of antique bronze. In the northeast and southeast corners of the building are located flights of iron and marble stairs, which lead from the basement to the second floor; while on the western side two additional flights lead from the second to the third floor, on each side of the Orphans' Court room. In the basement on each side of the room devoted to public meet- ings are situated two large and commodious toilet-rooms, one for the public and the other for the court-house em- ployees. The walls of these rooms are lined with Italian marble, and the plumbing is the best that can be had in the country.
In other portions of the building private toilet-rooms are provided, which are finished in the same rich and complete manner.
The court - house will be heated with hot air, and the facilities for doing so are of the most complete description. Immense galvanized iron ducts extend under the floors, over the ceilings, and throughout the walls of every room and corridor in the building. They all center in the sub-basement, which is located in the rear of the building, immediately be- neath the "People's Meeting Room " in the basement. Here
132
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
is placed the machinery which warms the entire building, and entrance can only be obtained to it through a tunnel under the grass plot back of the building, seventy-five feet long, which opens into the engine-room of the county jail.
In this sub-basement are located two immense Sturtevant fans, ten feet in diameter, which are driven by two fifty-three horse-power engines. These fans draw the cold air from the outside of the building and force it through tempering coils of one-inch pipe filled with live steam. After pass- ing through these coils, which contain 15,650 feet of pipe, 7,825 feet to each fan, the air, now very hot, is received by two immense galvanized iron main ducts, each one nine feet long by thirty inches wide, and by them distributed throughout the walls and floors of the building, eventually entering and warming the different rooms.
In addition to these two mammoth fans, there are situated on the top of the main building, under the base of the dome, two other Sturtevant fans seven feet in diameter. The prov- ince of these fans is to draw all the foul air from the differ- ent rooms, thus insuring perfect ventilation.
The court-house will be lighted exclusively by electricity, and has been wired in the most complete manner. The cur- rent at present will be obtained from the local lighting com- pany; later, however, two dynamos will be placed in a room adjoining the engine-room in the basement of the county jail, in which is now located the hydraulic machinery which runs the court-house elevator.
INTERIOR.
The principal entrance to the court-house is on the eastern side of the building, facing Main Street, under the imposing portico which adds much stateliness to its appearance.
Three doorways, the center one being the largest, adorned with elaborately cut-stone cornices and frontals, and hung with massive hand-carved mahogany doors, lead into a vesti- bule lined with Italian marble forty feet in width, whose
133
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
arched roof rises twenty feet above the white marble floor below.
Inside this vestibule a second one is entered, also white marble lined, and having its ceiling studded with ornamental and highly colored rose foils, from the interior of each of which an electric light gleams.1
The main corridor is now reached, and a sight breaks upon the eye of the visitor which can scarcely be equaled in this country. Before him rises a graceful stairway; on either side stretch away vistas of Italian marble corridors; while above him, supported by twelve immense pilasters, interspersed with Roman arches, hangs the majestic dome, with its jeweled art glass and frescoes in colors and gold.
When one stands here in the subdued light of the dome, mellowed and tempered as it falls from above; when he ex- amines the exquisite finish of his surroundings -the brass- work, the bronze, the gleaming stretches of marble, together with the brilliant colors, and the gold, which seem to warm all into life- he cannot but feel proud that Washington County is the owner of a building unsurpassed in any other country this side of the Atlantic.
The base of the dome, forty feet in diameter, rests on the massive Corinthian capitals of twelve immense pilasters, which rise from the basement to the rotunda on the third floor. These pilasters are composed of white Italian marble on the first floor, and of Siena marble between the second and third. Their capitals are gorgeously frescoed with bright colors and gold. From these capitals spring twelve Roman arches on the third floor, forming the rotunda, whose outer
1 On the right-hand wall, as one enters this second vestibule, is in- serted a bronze mural tablet, thirty-three inches high and twenty-four inches wide, containing a bas-relief portrait of Colonel A. L. Hawkins, who died July 18, 1899, on the Pacific Ocean, when returning with his regiment, the Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, from the Philippine war. Our half-tone illustration does not sufficiently show the contrast of color between the bronze memorial and the veined white marble surround- ing it.
134
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
faces are richly gilded. Above these Roman arches, and from each corner of the area, spring four other arches, each with a span of forty feet. The façades of these arches are richly frescoed in colors in the renaissance style, on a back- ground of pure gold leaf, and have a large rose medallion in their center, which is also richly decorated. From the top of these four arches, which form its base, springs the dome, sixty-four feet in height from the third floor. The dome is very richly frescoed, and is divided into twelve sections of brilliantly colored art glass, which terminate in a rose skylight in the center. It is one of the handsomest pieces of work in this country, and presents a brilliant appearance at night when illuminated.
Looking down to the first floor from the rotunda the sight is one of unrivaled beauty; the massive pilasters, with their varied marbles and gorgeous capitals; the rich bronze balus- trades, marking the lines of the different floors; the rich col- oring of the frescoes; and the grand stairway winding down through the center of the area-all form a harmonious whole.
The grand stairway is a unique feature of the building. It rises from the first floor from three different directions-the east, the north, and the south. Each flight is twelve feet wide, and consists of sixteen steps. These three flights meet midway between the first and second floors, ending on a broad platform, twelve feet wide and twenty-six feet long. From each side of this platform two more flights of sixteen steps ascend, one toward the northern, the other toward the southern wings of the building, and reach the second floor immediately in front of the two principal court-rooms. Another flight also descends from the first floor to the basement.
The framework of this stairway is composed of bronzed iron, and the steps are of white marble. The balustrades and railings are massive, and of elaborate design, ending on the platform in four richly ornamented newel-posts, which stand at its corners.
Rising above the top of each newel-post is an artistically designed electric standard seven feet in height, composed of
FROM FIRST FLOOR, LEFT OF MAIN STAIRWAY. [Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press, New York, from photograph by Hallam:]
135
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
antique bronze matching the stairway, and upholding twelve electric lusters.
Descending the stairway from the first floor of the build- ing the basement is reached, where a number of the county departments are situated, occupying the north, west, and south sides; the east side being furnished with rooms, which will principally be used for storage purposes.
The walls in the basement are sand-finished, and tinted an olive-yellow in graduating shades from the surbase, growing lighter as they reach the ceiling. They are ornamented with a graceful Grecian border in gold, and the woodwork is all composed of antique oak.
In the northeast corner is situated the coroner's and sur- veyor's office, immediately adjoining which is that of the building superintendent. The county superintendent's office occupies the entire northwest corner, and he is also provided with a comfortable private office.
On the west side of the building, and immediately below the treasurer's office, is a large room, semicircular in form, which will be used as a public meeting-room. It is provided with two handsome entrances, and will accommodate about five hundred people. On either side of this room are two public toilet-rooms, deeply wainscoted with white marble. The auditors' quarters are located in the southwest corner of the structure, are handsomely finished and provided with every convenience. Along the east side of the basement are four large rooms, provided with vaults, which will be used for storing the county records and other important papers.
Three corridors extend around the forty-foot square area in the center of the building, corresponding to the different floors, and each one is finished in a style distinctively its own. The one on the first floor is twelve feet wide and twenty feet high. Its walls are composed of Italian marble, and its highly frescoed and vaulted ceiling is studded with electric lights, which gleam from richly decorated rose foils. Doors
136
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
on one side of this corridor give entrance to the different county departments, while the other is open to the area under the dome.
In both wings of the building, and in the rear of the grand stairway, on the first floor, are situated the convenient quarters occupied by the principal county departments, open- ing out upon the corridor.
The walls of these departments are sand-finished, and colored a medium green, which graduates into a much lighter shade on the ceiling. They are ornamented with a red and gold egg border, and are finished with a broad piece of Italian marble at their base. The floor is laid in white marble, and all the doors and other woodwork are composed of heavy antique oak, while light is supplied by many handsome old brass and silver-gilt electroliers in the ceiling, each of which contains a cluster of three incandescent globes.
On the immediate right of the main entrance, and occupy- ing the northeast corner of the building, is situated the pro- thonotary's office. This room is supplied with handsome counters, the most approved filing racks, desks, and a capacious vault. The furniture is composed entirely of iron, painted a dark green color, picked out with gold, the desks and counters, however, being supplied with antique oaken tops.
Next to this room is that occupied by the clerk of the courts, whose windows look out on Beau Street. This is also handsomely fitted up with counters and desks of the same fire-proof material.
In the northwest corner the county commissioners have their quarters, which consist of one large room and four smaller committee rooms, from which a spiral iron stairway leads down to a large transcribing room, immediately below in the basement. The furnishings are of the same inde- structible character.
Immediately back of the main stairway on the west side of the building, and occupying a large semicircular room, is the office of the county treasurer and his private retiring room.
COURT ROOM NO:
CHINY FIR KINCHEIL
UP FRONT STAIRWAY, SECOND AND THIRD CORRIDORS, [Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press, New York, from photograph by Hallam.]
137
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
A handsome carved antique oak doorway leads into this room, which is divided through its center by a counter composed of solid brick, faced with iron, and ornamented with a gold and green design, which supports an elaborate railing of antique .bronze. In the rear is an immense fire and burglar proof vault. As in the other rooms, the furniture is of iron.
Adjoining the treasury department on the south are the sheriff's quarters, a large, well-furnished room, containing a large vault and a snug private office. From the main room an iron circular stairway leads down to a large room in the base- ment immediately beneath, containing an immense fire-proof vault, where articles levied upon will be securely kept. This room will be used for the holding of sheriff's sales, and also by the jury commissioners in the drawing of jurors.
In the southwest corner are situated the main and private offices of the county register, which are large, commodious, and handsomely furnished.
To the left of the main entrance, and in the southeastern corner of the building, are the large and well-appointed offices of the county recorder, which are supplied with every conve- nience in the shape of counters, desks, and filing-racks, all of a solid and indestructible character.
The corridor on the second floor is twelve feet wide and eighteen feet high, its walls being wainscoted one-half their height with a delicate shade of Siena marble, ornamented with pilasters, while the coloring of the remainder and the ceiling is of a warm shade of yellow. The ceiling is paneled in square sections, in contrast to the arch-shaped ones of the first and third floors, each section containing four rose foils holding electric lights, and is beautifully decorated in fresco. The railing between the massive pilasters, which runs around the edge of the central arena, is composed of handsome and elaborately molded balustrades of bronzed iron, in the form of miniature columns. From this corridor, iu the center of both its northern and southern sides, massive and intricately carved doorways of antique oak lead into the two principal court-
138
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCHI, AND BAR.
rooms, which occupy the north and south wings of the build- ing.
The color scheme of the rooms in the northern wing of the building on this floor is red and yellow, with all the plaster enrichments picked out in green, red, and gold; that of the southern wing is green, yellow, and gold. The surbases are all composed of Alps green marble and the woodwork of antique oak.
Passing through the ponderous carved doors on the north side, so perfectly balanced that they yield to the lightest touch, one enters court-room No. 1, where Judge J. A. Mc- Ilvaine will preside. The first impression is one of loftiness and grandeur, which rather increases than diminishes after tlie first view. The woodwork, which lends a touch of impressive- ness to the apartment, is composed of heavy dark Flemish oak, and harmonizes perfectly with the rich mingled coloring in reds, yellows, and gold. The architecture is distinctively Grecian.
This apartment is sixty feet long, forty feet wide, and its ceiling rises thirty-two feet above the white marble floor below. A surbase of Alps green marble runs around the foot of the walls, above which is a three-foot dado of red Numidian marble. Extending above this dado, and one-third the height of the walls, is an elaborately paneled and carved wainscoting of solid Flemish oak, which is surmounted with a massive hand-carved cornice of the same material. Above the wain- scoting, the walls are sand-finished and paneled in red and yellow pilasters between the six windows, which light the room on the east and west sides. The space above these windows is occupied by handsome rectangular transoms filled with colored art glass, separated from each other by the gorgeously colored Corinthian capitals of the pilasters. A deep cornice ornamented with corbels connects the walls with the ceiling. The north and south walls are sand-finished in. solid red with graceful renaissance borders. Running around the four sides of the ceiling is a deep panel inclosing fifty highly colored and gilded rose foils, the center of each hold- ing an incandescent light. In the center of the ceiling is an
NORTHEAST CORNER, FROM FIRST PLATFORM. [Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press, New York.]
139
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
immense circular panel which surrounds an artistically de- signed and colored skylight, composed of eight circular sections grouped around a central one. On either side of this central panel, which has an inner circle of sixteen electric lights, and extending across the ceiling, are two handsome rectangular ones, richly ornamented. The colors used in the decoration of the ceiling are very rich, yet so harmoniously blended that the general effect is a most pleasing one.
Aside from the fifty incandescent lights and the circle of sixteen in the ceiling, the apartment is illuminated by sixteen handsome silver and old brass brackets, which extend out from the heavy wainscoting and hold three globes each, one bracket beneath the base of each pilaster, and one on either side of the entrance.
The bar, whose floor is laid with varicolored vulcanized rubber tiles, is partitioned off from the rest of the room by a heavy railing of Flemish oak, ornamented with elaborately carved balustrades, which extend across the center of the apartment. Railings of like character also inclose the desk of the clerk of the court and the seats of the jury. The judge's bench is plain, elegant, and massive, graced on either side with an antique bronze electric standard holding three incandescent lusters.
Across the north end of the room and back of the judge's bench extends a most elaborate piece of cabinet-work, in the form of a screen, rising in the center nearly to the ceiling, and composed, like the rest, entirely of dull-polished Flemish oak. The central part is composed of a large panel with an arched top, on each side of which rise two fluted columns, whose handsome Corinthian capitals support an imposing entabla- ture, magnificently carved. Handsome entablatures, smaller in size, cap the windows on each side of the bench, and the intervening spaces are artistically paneled and carved. The effect produced by this piece of work lends a grace and dig- nity which thoroughly harmonizes with the blended colors and rich molding of the apartment, and stamps it as the conception of a master mind.
140
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
Court-room No. 2, in which Judge J. F. Taylor will pre- side, occupies the southern wing of the building, directly opposite court-room No. 1. The decorations and molding in this room are identical with those of No. 1, with the excep- tion that green is the prevailing color used, instead of red, and the woodwork is composed of solid polished Honduras mahogany.
A handsome antique oak door in the middle of the west corridor leads into court-room No. 3, which will be used as the Orphans' Court. This court-room is semicircular in shape, and is forty-four feet wide, thirty-five feet long, and eighteen feet high. The walls are surbased in Alps green marble, above which is a three-foot dado of Siena marble. From this to the ceiling they are sand-finished, the color scheme being old blue, yellow, and gold, with the decorations in the renaissance style. The ceiling is of an olive-yellow shade, divided into eight longitudinal panels, from which pro- ject twelve old brass and silver electroliers, each holding three incandescent lights, while projecting from the walls are six brackets, three on each side holding two electric lights apiece. The woodwork is composed entirely of polished Hon- duras mahogany.
The room is divided across the middle by a heavy and richly carved mahogany railing, inclosing the bar, which is laid with different colored vulcanized rubber tiles.
The judge's bench is composed of the same beautiful wood, and immediately in its rear rises a handsome piece of cabinet- work carved iu the Romanesque style of architecture. The center is occupied by an alcove, on each side of which rise fluted columns, supporting a finely carved frontal.
These three court-rooms, in beauty of design, fineness of finish, delicacy of color, and completeness of detail, stand the equal of any of similar size elsewhere throughout the country.
On each side of the two court-rooms, corridors lead from the main one, on which open rooms provided for the use of the court officials, members of the jury, attorneys and their
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.