Bayfield County Courthouse

Limestone, granite, and marble were often the materials of choice for courthouses, but for Bayfield County’s courthouse locally quarried Chequamegon brownstone seemed most appropriate. Architects from Minneapolis created a dramatic portico for this grand Beaux-Arts classical building, where four colossal Corinthian columns support a frieze and a pediment. A narrow cupola with a lantern rises high above the roof. Within the portico, a tall Palladian window above the entrance door is fronted by a wrought-iron balcony. As the two-story courthouse rises from an elevated foundation, the walls feature different stonework patterns to define each level. The central section of the facade has a different pattern of brick-sized rusticated stones, which sets it off from the other walls.