Franklin County Courthouse - Brookville, Indiana
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 25.155 W 085° 00.747
16S E 671091 N 4365187
County courthouse for Franklin County in Brookville, Indiana.
Waymark Code: WM44D0
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2008
Views: 29
"In 1852 Edwin May, architect of several nineteenth century Indiana
courthouses, designed an elaborate, classically-inspired building with a temple
front and an impressive clock tower for Franklin County. By 1877 architectural
fashions changed and the building in Brookville suffered from maintenance
issues. As one account states:
The first, or original style of the present court house was of
the Italian flat-roofed order, not pleasing to the eye, and not
well calculated to be durable, especially the roof, which gave
some trouble from leakage.
In 1877, in an attempt to correct the leaks, workers piled up building
materials on the roof and crashed into the courtroom below. Despite the
estimated twenty people in the courtroom and several workmen on the roof, no one
was seriously injured. The courtroom temporarily relocated while workers
completed the repairs.
Commissioners were debating the topic of a new courthouse by 1905.
Indianapolis architect Elmer Dunlap examined the existing building and declared
it fit for renovation rather than replacement. In 1910 the Commission hired
Dunlap, who renovated the Jackson County Courthouse the same year. Despite
retaining the basic bones of the 1852 building, all that remains today of Edwin
May’s design is the clock tower. Dunlap flanked the original building with wings
and replaced the Italian-inspired round arches with flat window surrounds and
Ionic columns reflecting the Neo-Classical style popular in the early twentieth
century.
The Franklin County Courthouse is listed in the National Register of Historic
Places as part of the Brookville Historic District. The Courthouse occupies the
popular Shelbyville Square plan with streets converging at the corners to form
right angles." -
Indiana
Courts website