|
Baltimore County Courthouse
|
|
|
Courthouse from northeast
|
|
|
|
|
| Location: | Washington Ave. between Pennsylvania and Chesapeake Aves., Towson, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Area: | 4 acres (1.6 ha) |
| Built: | 1855 |
| Architect: | Dixon, Bilbirnie & Dixon; Baldwin,E.F. & Pennington, Josias |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival |
| Governing body: | Baltimore County, Maryland |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72000569 |
| Added to NRHP: | October 27, 1972[1] |
The Baltimore County Courthouses are located in Towson, the Baltimore County Courthouse ("historic Courthouse") houses many of the offices of county government, while the County Courts Building ("new" courthouse) is dedicated to the civil, criminal, family and juvenile divisions of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, as well as the Baltimore County Sheriff's Office.
Contents |
The historic Baltimore County Courthouse is an edifice two stories in height and nine bays in length surrounded by a modest park. The east facade is Greek Revival porte-cochere with a pediment supported by fluted Doric columns. A shallow A-frame roof of the main block is crowned with a centered, eight-windowed, pilastered, frame cupola bearing a domed copper roof. Originally constructed in 1855, the building is one of the few H-plan buildings, public or private, remaining in the state. All of the original exterior treatments are preserved intact.[2]
The cornerstone of the courthouse was laid on October 19, 1854, in what was then called "Towsontown". Coleman Yellott, a local attorney delivered the official address saying:
"The ceremony which you had assembled to witness, has now been performed. The Corner Stone of the building has been laid; and soon the edifice itself will rise towards the Heavens, attracting, by the beauty of its proportions and the simple grandeur of its walls, the admiring gaze of every traveler along yonder highway. May it stand for ages, in sunshine and in storm, firm and unshaken as the hill in which its foundations are planted; and may it ever be pointed to as a temple of Justice!"[3]
The building was completed in 1855, and six years later the building was the object of an arson attack. According to a blurb in the New York Times on Saturday, August 14, 1861, the building was "fired by incendiary". The account goes on to say that the fire was contained to the records office and the rest of the building escaped damage.[4] The building was enlarged in 1910, again in 1925, and a third time in 1958.[2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[1]
The Baltimore County Courts Building is located on Bosley Avenue in Towson, Maryland and shares the same public square with the Baltimore County Courthouse. Sometimes referred to as the "New Courthouse", it houses the 17 judges of the Baltimore County Circuit Court, the Offices of the Baltimore County State's Attorney, juvenile and equity masters, four retired judges and nearly 100 support personnel.[5]
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||