Franklin County Courthouse - Ottawa, Ks.
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iconions
N 38° 36.807 W 095° 16.090
15S E 302519 N 4276322
The historic Franklin County Courthouse, located at 315 S. Main Street, is a three story red brick building. The architect was George Washburn.
Waymark Code: WMHA71
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 06/13/2013
Views: 5
pg. 269 -- Kansas: A Guide to the Sunflower State "The FRANKLIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, SE. corner 4th and Main Sts., is a three-story structure of red brick and Kansas limestone. The blue slate roof has turrets at the corners, with intermediate gables and a cupola at each end of the apex. The west cupola above the Main Street entrance contains a bell which strikes the hours. At the apex of the west cupola is a statue symbolizing Justice. The Courthouse was designed by George P. Washburn & Son, and completed in 1893 at a cost of $46,535. Washburn, one of the most prolific and talented of Kansan architects in the 1890's, also designed the courthouse at Atchison."
The courthouse is very similar to the description above. The roof, however, no longer doesn't appear to be slate. Several memorials are now on the Courthouse grounds. Statues to George Washburn and Tuay Jones stand on the grounds along with a multi-war Veterans memorial with a brick walkway.
From the National Register application on the Courthouse:
(
visit link)
"The Franklin County Courthouse, located at Ottawa, is a rectangular Romanesque-influenced structure with entrances on the east and west sides. The building is three stories in height and has a full basement. The basement foundation walls, which are constructed of rough-hewn limestone blocks laid in regular horizontal courses, terminate at the first floor line in a projecting limestone belt course. Red face brick is the principal building material used for wall construction on the three stories above the stone belt line. The roof form is very complex but is basically a steep pitched hip roof with intersecting gables at the center of each of the four sides. A steeply pitched hip roof is used over each of the four corner towers. Two cupolas are located at the ends of the main hip roof. The west cupola contains a four-sided clock while the east cupola is an open four-sided bell tower. A decorative metal spine is used on all roof ridges.
The roof cornice and gable overhangs are ornamented by dentils with a similar decoration on the tower. Each of the tower roofs as well as the two cupolas terminates in a decorative metal spire. A silvered statue stands on the apex of the gable over the west entrance. In addition to the roof features and the corner towers, the building has large entrance porches at the east and west facades. The porch roofs, which are supported by large brick pillars with stone bases, capitals and intermediate bands, are balconies for the second floor. First floor windows are simple rectangular openings with stone sills and lintels. The stone of the lintels is extended continuously around the building to form a band. The same is true for the sills of the second story windows. Second story windows are capped with large semicircular stone arches, which interconnect to provide a continuous stone band."