County Courthouse - Oklahoma City, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 28.136 W 097° 31.135
14S E 634380 N 3926055
One of several city and county buildings constructed by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in the 1930s.
Waymark Code: WMAZ6C
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2011
Views: 8
"The COUNTY BUILDING, between Harvey and Hudson Aves., is the chief
structure of this group. Designed by S. A. Layton and George Forsyth, it is a successful adaptation in Bedford limestone of the classic style. Over the broad main entrance on 1st St. is a sculptured group in deep bas-relief representing Indians, cowboys, early settlers and, at either extremity, Lincoln and Washington.
In the lobby, with its terrazzo floor and walls of rose-colored marble
broken by flat fluted columns of black marble, is a frieze of separate squares depicting such appropriate symbols as the lamp of truth, the scales of justice, the book of knowledge, and the Roman fasces. Doors, window frames, and ornaments are of aluminum.
The first six floors provide for five district courtrooms, two common
pleas courts, and the county court, as well as the necessary jury rooms and other offices. On the seventh and eighth floors is a modern jail. [A Guide to the Sooner State, 1941].
The County Courthouse building is still used as such today. The county jail originally on the seventh and eighth floors has been moved to another location in the City. The building is addressed as 321 W. Park Avenue. The south-facing main entrance has Cold Spring Minnesota granite steps and wing walls, with cast aluminum and etched glass lights atop each wing wall. The building is three stories to the east and west, and then soars in an additional ten story tower. The entrance has four metal-framed glass doors, recessed with stepped-back pilasters of black granite. Above the doors is a set of tall aluminum panels with a floral pattern. Above these panels is an etched quotation from Abraham Lincoln, and above that, a bas-relief mural depicting a panorama of the State's history.
The interior of the building on all levels is filled with decorative images of Oklahoma. The main lobby is two stories with a terrazzo flour with a compass design. There are abstract wagon wheel chandeliers with third-floor overlooks. Marble and plaster symbols in various parts of the building show Oklahoma's agricultural background, with corn and wheat. Its ranching history is depicted by a bull and bison. In the courtrooms are bas-relief images of early justice, with scenes of tribal justice and frontier lawmen. There are eight two-story courtrooms on the seventh and eight floors.
On the south facade, there are engravings with quotations from George Washington and Samuel Adams. A large county office building, built in 1965, stands directly north of the courthouse, and is connected by an overhead walkway. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 (#92000126). [Details of the history of this building were found in the NRHP nomination.]