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Baca County Courthouse

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1930, Hutchison Architects. 1935, WPA. Main to Colorado sts., between W. 6th and W. 7th aves.

The county courthouse, sited in a treeshaded public square, is a Beaux-Arts Renaissance Revival composition in blond brick. Purple and blue terracotta trim highlights egg-and-dart detail in the dentiled cornice above second-story blind arches with floral medallions and Adamesque wreaths. This impressive facade transformed the 1916 courthouse, a plain, two-story brick box with hipped roof whose stuccoed walls now form the central portion of the building. The wing on the west, constructed of rough-faced local sandstone blocks in the plain but meticulous style of the WPA, now houses the Baca County Museum. Additional WPA projects on the courthouse grounds include a small building on the northwest corner and a low wall around the entire block. The library is in a 1985 addition to the north. On the inside, tile work on the staircase of the front bay is noteworthy.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Baca County Courthouse", [Springfield, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-BA01.

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