You are here

Nevada » Southern Region » Pioche » Old Lincoln County Courthouse

Old Lincoln County Courthouse

-A A +A
1872, T. Dimmock and Thomas Keefe. Lacour St.
  • (Photograph by Julie Nicoletta)

Known as the “million dollar courthouse,” this Italianate structure is reputed to be the most expensive building erected by a county in nineteenth-century Nevada and stands as an example of government corruption. Construction costs totaled $75,000, equivalent to $1,084426 today—an amount far above the agreed-upon price. The debts incurred and the county's subsequent mismanagement resulted in a final cost of at least $800,000, equivalent to $11,567,213 today. The local government retired the debt in 1938, at the same time it was constructing a new Moderne courthouse.

Local designers T. Dimmock and Thomas Keefe provided the county with plans for the simple, two-story brick edifice with rubble stone side walls. The brick front elevation has three bays, separated by unadorned pilasters. An elegant fanlight and narrow side lights with arched caps surround the double wooden doors of the primary entrance. The second-story door, with arched transom and narrow side lights, leads to a wooden balcony. A simple brick cornice with dentils supports a parapet wall. The former courthouse now serves as a local history museum.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Julie Nicoletta
×

Data

What's Nearby

Thompson's Opera House (Brown's Opera House) and Gem Theater
Lincoln County Elementary School

Citation

Julie Nicoletta, "Old Lincoln County Courthouse", [, Nevada], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NV-01-SO75.

Print Source

Buildings of Nevada, Julie Nicoletta. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 254-254.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,