{"id":1379,"date":"2013-09-20T04:02:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T04:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:33:05","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:33:05","slug":"the-allegheny-county-courthouse-turns-125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/20\/the-allegheny-county-courthouse-turns-125\/","title":{"rendered":"The Allegheny County Courthouse turns 125"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"View <\/a>
View of the courthouse and jail, circa 1930. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Courthouse <\/a>
Courthouse was lighted up in 1941. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pittsburgh <\/a>
Pittsburgh photographer Clyde Hare made this image in 1981. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View from the tower in 1991. (John Heller\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Grand <\/a>
Grand staircase in 2010. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The courthouse tower. Photo credit: Unknown <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The imposing stone courthouse and jail Henry Hobson Richardson designed for Allegheny County is considered one of the architect\u2019s most inspired buildings.<\/p>\n

\n

Educated at Harvard University in Boston and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Richardson established a practice on Long Island, N.Y. when he returned to the U.S. in 1865.<\/p>\n

Allegheny County officials wanted to replace a Greek Revival courthouse that burned in 1882 so they hosted a design competition. At the urging of John Ricketson, a Pittsburgh lawyer who was his Harvard classmate, Richardson submitted a belated entry in September of 1883. Construction of the new Allegheny County Courthouse and jail began in 1884 and finished in 1888.<\/p>\n

In his book, \u201cPittsburgh\u2019s Landmark Architecture, historian Walter Kidney called the courthouse tower \u201cone big ornament.\u201d At more than 318 feet high, it was originally designed to store the county\u2019s archives but that plan fell by the wayside.<\/p>\n

The courthouse interior is made of brick, much of which was made from clay dug during excavation for the foundation. If you stand in the building\u2019s courtyard, you can see that the building\u2019s exterior \u00a0is a symphony of Roman arches created out of cut granite.<\/p>\n

The carved moldings and ornamental stonework are the artistic legacy of 26 stone masons employed by the Boston firm of Evans & Tombs. Half of the masons were Italian and the rest Americans, according to a concise history of the building by architectural historian Albert M. Tannler. The exterior carving alone lasted for 10 months.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Raymond Novak played a key role in restoring Courtroom 321 to its original appearance. The project, completed in 1988, cost $450,000 and was based on three historical photographs.<\/p>\n

The courthouse has served as the stage for countless large and small dramas that have played out in its courtrooms, hallways, prosecutors\u2019 offices and judges\u2019 chambers.<\/p>\n

In May of this year, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced that a team of former county officials will lead a campaign to raise funds for the building\u2019s restoration, a long deferred project that will cost tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

When the building\u2019s 125th anniversary arrives next week on Sept. 24, we hope Mr. Fitzgerald and his team begin raising the money necessary to restore this magnificent landmark. When it was finished in 1888, the courthouse cost $2.3 million and furnishings were another $113,107.<\/p>\n

Richardson was 47 when he died of Bright\u2019s Disease in 1886 so he never lived to see this masterpiece finished.<\/p>\n

On the day of his death, he told his doctor that he hoped to live two more years to see the completion of the Allegheny County Courthouse and a wholesale store for \u00a0Marshall Field\u2019s in Chicago. Regrettably, the Chicago building was torn down in the 1930s.<\/p>\n

In his own words, the architect said he wished to be judged by those two buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they honor me for the pigmy things I have already done, what will they say when they see Pittsburgh finished.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The imposing stone courthouse and jail Henry Hobson Richardson designed for Allegheny County is considered one of the architect\u2019s most inspired buildings.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe Allegheny County Courthouse turns 125<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[975,955,972,1143,1001,1179],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mtdoovNtUW1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=919%2C1296&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2278,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/16\/hill-district-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":1379,"position":0},"title":"Hill District at night","date":"November 16, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Silhouetted in the foreground is the 229-foot tall tower of the historic Allegheny County courthouse.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mdjy2vrPtm1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C965&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4705,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/01\/07\/pittsburghs-fallout-shelters\/","url_meta":{"origin":1379,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh’s fallout shelters","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Allegheny County once nearly purchased a hole in the ground for $30,000.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Fallout-shelters-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8917,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/21\/jonny-gammage-couldnt-breathe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1379,"position":2},"title":"Jonny Gammage couldn’t breathe","date":"June 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday, an East Pittsburgh police officer killed an unarmed black teenager. 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