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Sullivan County Courthouse

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1894, Wagner and Reitmeyer; 1993, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates. Main and Muncy sts.
  • Sullivan County Courthouse (© George E. Thomas)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)

Sullivan County Courthouse is the simplest and least expensive of at least four Pennsylvania courthouses that emulate H. H. Richardson's 1883–1888 Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh. Its materials, brick with rock-faced stone trim, were clearly cheaper than the rock-faced stone of Richardson's Pittsburgh masterpiece, but Richardson's composition and picturesque elements are evident in the tower. The five-bay entrance block with its large cross gable and round-arched windows sits between a semi-hexagonal bay and the tall four-stage tower with blunt pinnacles. The original interior staircase survives, as do most elements in the courtroom—seating, jury box, and the judge's alcove. Attached to the courthouse's rear corner is the two-story brick addition of 1993. Behind the courthouse is a brick museum built c. 1884 as county offices.

Laporte's most important house, a cubical Tuscan affair with a crowning belvedere, was built for town founder Michael Meylert on Cherry Street in 1851. It was designed by Stephen V. Shipman, a Montrose architect who moved to the Midwest and designed Wisconsin's first statehouse.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

George E. Thomas, "Sullivan County Courthouse", [Laporte, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-SU1.

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, 556-557.

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