Pickett County Courthouse - Byrdstown, TN - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

"After fire destroyed the first Pickett County Courthouse in 1934 the Quarterly Court sold $40,000 worth of bonds to construct the second and present courthouse. This building was completed in 1935. The prominent and influential Nashville architectural firm of Marr and Holman was contracted and designed the new subdued but stately Pickett County Courthouse. Interestingly, the construction of this new courthouse came during the height of Public Works Administration and Works Project Administration building projects across the country and Tennessee. There were many public buildings erected in Tennessee designed in the PWA or WPA Modern styles using monies from these Federal agencies. Pickett County did not benefit from these funding sources; despite the fact that its citizens would be likely candidates for such aid. Equally interesting, these citizens were not influenced by the styles then popular but clung to a more traditional architectural style whose associations with government and the founding roots of this country are very strong. While this association may be contributed to the rural nature of Pickett County, with more limited access to the avenues which brought new building trends, any speculation along this line must be tempered by the fact that an important Tennessee architectural firm was engaged for the project. By retaining Marr and Holman Pickett Countians expressed their interest in good architectural design for their most prominent government building. Another possible source of New Deal involvement in this building would be the activities of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) in 1933-35 and the Civilian Works Administration (CWA) in 1934. Both agencies were committed to bringing relief to depression communities as quickly as possible. While neither developed the record of architectural contributions recorded by the PWA and WPA, both agencies often provided paid labor for local government projects, especially the repair of older public buildings and schools. Little research has been focused on the programs of FERA and CWA; until more in known, the level of association between the New Deal and the Pickett County Courthouse will be unknown.

The 1935 Pickett County Courthouse sits on a slight rise that slopes to the rear in the heart of Byrdstown. While there are buildings on all sides of the courthouse creating the feeling of a courthouse square the sides are irregular in length and do not meet at right angles. Thus the resulting pattern seems to be one not of formal planning, but evolutionary development. The two story with basement building is covered in Crab Orchard stone, an important local building material from the Eastern Highland Rim of Tennessee. The use of Crab Orchard stone gives this Colonial Revival building a distinctly regional design. Its simple decorative elements of cupola, entrance cornice and roofline cornice and front facade symmetry accent the building giving it its Colonial Revival association."
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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/02/2007 ggmorton visited it