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Old Montgomery County Jail

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1851, Napoleon LeBrun. E. Airy and Maris sts.
  • Old Montgomery County Jail (Richard W. Longstreth)
  • (© George E. Thomas)

LeBrun drew on John Haviland's landmark Eastern State Penitentiary ( PH126) for the formidable Gothic facade, with perhaps a nod to LeBrun's teacher Thomas Ustick Walter in the central tower above the main block that recalls the demolished Moyamensing Prison. The mass of the walls and the great portcullis seem to communicate, “Abandon Hope, all ye who enter here.” In the cells to the rear, the grim “Pennsylvania system” of solitary confinement was practiced. The building is currently vacant and awaits a new use.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
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Data

What's Nearby

Norristown Public Square
First Presbyterian Church
Montgomery County Courthouse
King of Prussia Mall and The Courts at King of Prussia
Norriton Presbyterian Church

Citation

George E. Thomas, "Old Montgomery County Jail", [Norristown, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-MO22.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 2

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 203-203.

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