Allegheny County Courthouse (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

 H. H. Richardson buildings, courthouse, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1888_construction, U.S. National Historic Landmark

436 Grant St
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

The Courthouse (1888). Allegheny County was formed in 1788 and the first court sessions held in a tavern, as was the case with many of the western frontier counties. Shortly after, the first courthouse was built on today's Market Square, a simple frame structure. This was followed by a more substantial brick building in 1799.

A much larger Neoclassic courthouse was constructed around 1842 at the present location on Grant Street, and burned in 1882. Designed by H.H. Richardson (who died during construction) and built in 1884-88, the present Allegheny County courthouse is one of the most architecturally significant in the country. It is an excellent example of Richardson's style, called Richardsonian Romanesque.

The courthouse sits on its own block with narrow side streets on three sides and facing the wider Grant Street. One of the purposes of the large tower at the front was to increase natural circulation in the days before air conditioning. Entrance is through the arches under the tower into what was originally the basement, as the street was lowered several feet after the courthouse was built.

The jail, part of the original design although by another architect, is connected to the courthouse at rear over the street by a ' bridge of signs '. This old jail was gutted inside and transformed into additional courtrooms around 2002 after a new jail was built down along the Monongahela. Also, today civil trials are held in the Court of Common Pleas in the adjacent City-County building.

The courthouse completely surrounds an interior courtyard with a fountain and benches, reached through street level openings on each side. There is little iconography on the building; this is part of Richardson's utilitarian style. However, a bronze plaque of the Ten Commandments hangs on the outside. Around 2000 this caused a lawsuit on government endorsement of religion, which was dismissed on the grounds the plaque was part of the building's history.

This courthouse is the second most architecturally important building in western Pennsylvania, after Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Fayette County. It is the only Pennsylvania county courthouse that is a National Historic Landmark. (Philadelphia City Hall is also a NHL, but is not, obviously, called a courthouse.)

www.mapsofpa.com/countyseatsa.htm
www.alleghenycourts.us/