1897 - Franklin County Courthouse - Ottawa, Ks.
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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: WMF7K3
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2012
Views: 2
From the National Register Application:
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"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."
From Kansapedia on George Washburn:
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"Architect (1846-1922)
George P. Washburn of Ottawa, Kansas was one of the leading architects in the state at the turn of the 20th century. He studied architecture in Quincy, Illinois at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College and came to Kansas in 1870. He worked in Kansas City, Missouri as a carpenter and an architect for a time before setting up his own architecture practice in Ottawa in 1882. In 1885 he became the architect for the Kansas State Board of Charities. Washburn was also one of several architects that designed Kansas' Carnegie Libraries.
Although Washburn designed all types of buildings, including residential, he is best known for his courthouses having designed a total of 13. During the 1890s he designed the Johnson, Franklin, Miami, Atchison, and Woodson County courthouses. In 1901 his son joined the firm and it became George P. Washburn & Son. Together, father and son designed the Anderson, Neosho, Doniphan, Kingman, Harper, and Butler County courthouses.
Washburn's buildings were not often representative of one architectural style, but rather a combination of the prevailing aesthetics of the time. He developed different combinations of Richarsonian Romanesque. Queen Anne, Classical Revival and Beaux Arts and the result was eclectic.
In 1910 George Washburn went into semi-retirement and his son-in-law, Roy Stookey joined the firm with his son. Washburn died in 1922 and the firm became Washburn & Stookey."