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Mitchell County Courthouse

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1856–1858. Southeast corner of 5th and State streets
  • Mitchell County Courthouse (David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim)

With its location in a residential section of the town, the courthouse conveys the impression that it is a suburban college building. The design of the courthouse with a pedimented portico with four columns is in the Greek Revival mode. Added to this theme are a number of jarring, discordant notes: columns with mushroom capitals that are almost (but not quite) Egyptian in flavor; vertical segmented windows that one would associate with the Italianate; and a domed tower with pointed windows. The building has all of the qualities of a do-it-yourself vernacular design carried out with great enthusiasm.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim
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Data

What's Nearby

House
The Press Building
Commercial Building
House
Cedar Valley Seminary (now Mitchell County Historical Society)

Citation

David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, "Mitchell County Courthouse", [Osage, Iowa], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-NO249.

Print Source

Buildings of Iowa, David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 424-424.

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