pg. 202 - -- Missouri: A Guide to the 'Show Me' State, 1941 The COURT OF COMMON PLEAS BUILDING
(open 8-5 weekdays), Spanish St. at Themis St., is a two-story gray brick building of modified Classic-Revival architecture, in a park which crowns the high ground west of the waterfront and is reached by a flight of 59 steps from Spanish Street. A tower surmounts the structure, and a portico the full height of the facade relieves its severity on the east. Erected to replace the log building dating from 1805, the central portico of the present courthouse was built in 1854 on land originally donated by Louis Lorimier. The north and south wings were added in 1889. Cells in the basement held Civil War prisoners, some of whose names are legible on the walls. In addition to the court of common pleas, the building houses city offices.
From the National Register application:
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"Primary (East) Elevation:
The eastern façade of the Common Pleas courthouse is the most detailed and is the focal point of the building. Constructed of red brick laid in a common bond pattern, the shape of the 1854 courthouse is still visible as the 1888 wing additions are receded slightly from the original building. There are several cement steps leading up to the main entrance portico which is dominated by four two-story Tuscan columns. These columns support an entablature decorated with a diaper cornice with roundel motif and a triangular pediment decorated with a square geometric pattern. The roundel motif is repeated in a smaller scale along the original building’s pressed metal cornice. The cornice is supported by a red brick corbel table. The pressed metal cornice does not continue on the slightly recessed wings added in 1888, although a similar but slightly elongated corbel table is used on the additions to tie them stylistically to the original building. A glass lamp hangs from the roof of the portico and two Tuscan pilasters are incorporated into the eastern façade. The two story courthouse features two-over-two sash windows evenly spaced on both levels. Each level of the original building has six of these windows flanking either the central double window on the second level or the central double glass and metal entry doors on the first. There is a flat limestone lintel over the door, and all windows on both the original building and 1888 addition have flat limestone lintels and sills. The windows on the first story of the northern wing were enclosed sometime prior to 1978. Despite being filled with brick, the window openings are still visible and the fenestration pattern is intact.
North and South Elevations, Main Building:
The north and south elevations of the main part of the building are nearly identical with the exception of the first level’s two windows on the north elevation having been enclosed at the same time and in the same fashion as on the east elevation. The north elevation is smooth and each level features two evenly spaced two-over-two sash windows. The window openings, including those that were subsequently filled in with brick, have limestone flat lintels and sills. The brick corbel table extends around all three sides of the 1888 additions, including the north and south facing elevations. Both the north and south rooflines are gable-onhip construction, and both gables have small fan details in the apex and corners. Four connected rectangular louvered vents form the bottom edge of the gables.
West Elevation, Main Building:
The west elevation of the main building of the Common Pleas courthouse is bisected by the rear annex. The northern half of the west elevation of the main building has four window openings on each level, two on the original 1854 building and two on the 1888 wing. All the windows are two-over-two sash windows with limestone flat lintels and sills, although the window openings on the first level of the 1888 addition have been bricked in the same fashion as those on the other elevations. The western elevation has the same cornice line treatment as the eastern elevation, with the pressed metal cornice and roundel design supported by a brick corbel table on the original building and the elongated brick corbel table on the wing. The southern portion of the west elevation is detailed in the same fashion as the northern and is nearly identical to it. The only differences are that none of the windows are bricked in, and the 1888 wing addition has a door instead of a window as the innermost opening. A one-story porch shelters the doorways into both the 1888 wing addition and the 1888 rear annex. The porch roof is supported by four Tuscan columns, and has the roundel motif of the pressed metal cornice of the main buildings repeated in miniature along its cornice. Given the manner in which the porch roof obscures the window and doorways, it was likely added sometime after the 1888 addition was completed.
North and South Elevations of 1888 and 1959 rear additions:
The rear addition to the courthouse was constructed in two phases. The first rear addition was part of the 1888 alteration. In 1959 the rear annex was extended thirty feet to the west. The 1888 addition is detailed in the same fashion as the wings, with the elongated red brick corbel table along the cornice, and with two openings per level. On both the north and south elevations of this addition, the second level has two symmetrically placed two-over-two sash windows with limestone flat lintels and sills, and the first level has a door and a window. The doorway is topped with an arched limestone lintel, and is located close to where the addition intersects with the original building. The 1959 addition comprises the westernmost thirty feet. This addition uses the same red brick common bond pattern as the rest of the courthouse and replicates the brick corbel table found on the 1888 additions. The lintels and sills on this section, however, are “colored concrete in lieu of yellow limestone.” On the north elevation there are two window openings per level. The spacing between these windows is the same as in the 1888 addition, but since the 1959 addition is approximately five feet longer than the 1888 addition, the final result lacks symmetry. This asymmetrical effect is even more pronounced on the south elevation. Although there are two windows on the first level, on the second story there is only one, leaving an obvious blank space above the first window in the addition. To further the asymmetrical effect, a glass and metal door is located at the western end of the addition. Unlike all the other window and door openings in the building, this door has no lintel and is the only design feature that evokes the modern design aesthetic of John Boardman, the architect of the 1959 addition."