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Butler county was created in 1800 from portions of Allegheny County on Revolutionary War grants made to war financier Robert Morris. The county was named for a Revolutionary War general and Irish native, General Richard Butler. The lot for the courthouse was designated in the original survey of Butler, dating from 1803. The four-story courthouse, sheathed in local sandstone and lined with brick, is the county’s third courthouse building.
Both the Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival architectural styles make use of heavy stone, asymmetrical shapes, and towers. The simplest way to differentiate the two styles is the design of the window and door arches. Romanesque Revivals have rounded arches; Gothic Revivals come to a point. Looking at the courthouse, the arch of the main entry and the arches of the third floor windows are rounded, like on Romanesque Revival structures. The arches of the first and second floor windows are pointed, like on Gothic Revival structures. Ergo the description, “High Victorian Gothic with Romanesque accents.”
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