Courthouse and Town Hall - Claremont, NH - Courthouses on Waymarking.com

The Claremont City Hall Building is also home to the Claremont Opera House and an annex containing both municipal and district courts. Dedication of the building occurred on June 22, 1897. The cost was $62,000. The style of the building is Italian Renaissance Revival. The architect was Charles A. Rich. Rich was a native of Beverly, Massachusetts, and graduated from Dartmouth College. Hiram Beckwith, an architect in Claremont, was the contractor. Beckwith was also the designer of the neighboring Newport Town Hall and Opera House Building.

Many of the construction materials for the edifice came from the New England area. The foundation was built of Green Mountain Rock and the base was dressed Connecticut River Brownstone from Springfield, Massachusetts. On the major part of the exterior are nearly one million Lebanon bricks.

On the ground floor is an entrance lobby which originally led to an assembly hall which seated 700 and was used for town meetings and balls. In 1960 the first floor was remodeled, turning the former hall into offices and a City Council chamber.

Claremont takes its name from Claremont Castle, an English palace named in honor of John Holles, the first Earl of Clare. The castle was built under the direction of Thomas Pelham Holles, who was involved in relations between the American Colonies and England, and a cousin to Governor Benning Wentworth. Claremont's original land grant was a six-mile square area bordering the Connecticut River, including the governor's farm. The first Roman Catholic Church in New Hampshire was built in Claremont in 1823.

Claremont was first settled by Moses Spafford and David Lynde, two Connecticut grantees. The oldest areas are west of downtown Claremont whose early development was tied to the water power potential of the Sugar River and along which textile, paper and machinery mills were built, many of which remain today. The river--its total fall through the town is 250 feet--flows from Lake Sunapee emptying into the Connecticut at West Claremont. Although Claremont is best known for its industrial heritage, in the mid-1800s it enjoyed the reputation of being the best farming town in New Hampshire.”

Year Built: 1897 Current Use of Building: Courthouse, Town Hall, Opera House Level of Courts: Multiple Architect: Charles Rich and Hiram Beckwith Physical Address: Opera House Square Claremont, NH 03743 Related Website: [Web Link] Dates this building was used to house judicial proceedings: Not listed Hours: Not listed

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