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 Grant County Courthouse - Lancaster, Wisconsin Posted by:  iconions
N 42° 50.858 W 090° 42.613
15T E 687100 N 4746438
This three-story, domed, brick building is located at 130 West Maple Street in Lancaster, Wisconsin.
Waymark Code: WM12MMZ
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2020
Views: 1
My Commentary:
This is one of the most impressive county courthouses I have seen. The dome is massive and can be seen for quite a distance. It is quite distinctive and a huge reason why it was included on the Grant County flag. Because of the Covid virus scare, the courthouse was closed - I would have loved to go inside and just looked around this old courthouse.
The Grant County Courthouse, built in 1902, is an historic glass-and-copper-domed county courthouse building located at 126 West Main Street in Lancaster, Wisconsin. Designed by Armand D. Koch in the Classical Revival style, it was built of red sandstone.
Murals decorating the four spandrels under the dome were done by Franz E. Rohrbeck.
On October 19, 1978, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- Grant County Courthouse Wikipedia Page
In shady Courthouse Square is the red brick COURTHOUSE with a gleaming dome of copper and green glass. Within the building a sealed box bears the inscription, "Accursed be he who openeth me ere a hundred years are gone." The box was sealed in 1876 during the country's celebration of the 100th anniversary of American Independence and contains issues of the county newspapers, agricultural products raised at that time, and the like.
- Wisconsin, a guide to the Badger state, 1941, pgs. 422-423
The Grant County Courthouse is the only building occupying Lancaster's courthouse square.
A commercial district, the city's central business district, surrounds the square with unusually handsome and well-maintained, primarily-nineteenth-century, storefront buildings The three-story courthouse is cross-shaped in plan with brick walls and Lake Superior brownstone trim, belt courses and window pediments. Three types of brick are found in the exterior walls: red clay bricks at the basement, glazed brown bricks at the first story, and light-brown bricks on the upper stories. The straight-forward design uses fluted brownstone pilasters on all four facades to provide a neo-classical feeling that is reinforced by triangular pediments over windows, and other details.
An octagonal glass-and-copper dome dominates the building. Roof ornamentation is also of copper, and all copper in the building has weathered to a characteristic green color. Contemporary accounts reveal the construction of the dome and the copper trim and ornament resulted in a see-saw battle regarding their employment in the building or replacement with galvanized iron and elimination of the dome. Construction began in 1902 with the intent to use iron and build no dome. After the cornerstone was laid, however, the county judge, in a stirring speech defending the dome and copper, inspired a return to the original plans of the architect, Armand Koch. The extra funds required were generated by raising taxes and issuing $12,000 in bonds.
- National Register Application
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