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Benson County Courthouse

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1900, W. S. Russell; Lord and Company, builders. 311 B Ave. S
  • (Photograph by Steve C. Martens)

Standing in a residential neighborhood two blocks south of Minnewaukan’s business district, the courthouse was one of the last major public buildings in North Dakota to express the picturesque Richardsonian Romanesque aesthetic prior to the revival of classicism. The building projects a ponderous, fortress-like impression with its battered foundation walls of stone, brown brick upper walls, sandstone for the water table, belt course, sills, and lintels, and the massive square tower with a crenellated parapet, pyramidal roof, and cupola. The multi-hipped, wood-shingled roof carries hipped and gabled dormers, secondary cupolas, and chimneys with corbeling and stone caps. The entrance is articulated by a one-story recessed porch, with corners marked by pairs of stone columns and brick piers.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay
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Data

What's Nearby

Grace Episcopal Church

Citation

Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay, "Benson County Courthouse", [Minnewaukan, North Dakota], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ND-01-BE1.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of North Dakota

Buildings of North Dakota, Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 115-115.

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