With Romanesque we find one of the largest groupings of courthouse styles. More accurately, this should probably be called Romanesque Revival, of which Richardson Romanesque is a subset.
Romanesque buildings are chiefly notable for evoking a feeling of the Middle Ages. Stones are often very rough, buildings are massive, suggesting thick walls, half-circle arches on doors and windows are used extensively, castle-like elements like rounded embedded towers, turrets, etc. are also common. Basically anything to make it look picturesque and sort of Medieval.
Classical architecture looked to the pure models of Greek and Roman temples and civic buildings as inspiration. One interesting thing that has been suggested for the aptness of Romanesque as an alternative is that the variability and asymmetry of Romanesque buildings made it much easier to design for the heating systems and utilities of modern life. It was difficult to mask those services and maintain the pure clean form of a Greek temple. With Romanesque, one had a great deal of more freedom.
For me, this is a pretty great category as I really like all the buildings but two. One is just not a good building; the other would have been quite nice but a fire took off the entire roof years ago, depriving the building of a good portion of its design.
Edgar County Courthouse
Paris, Illinois
Viewed: August 13, 2020
Erected: 1892
Architect: Henry Elliot of Chicago
The Edgar County Courthouse most gives the impression of a great big wedding cake. The building is octagonal in shape with entrances on the four angled sides. It is of rough yellow sandstone with a red slate roof. The windows are very narrow but on the second floor are capped with semi circular tops. The steep gables give it an almost fairytale feel. The whole thing is topped by a stacked wedding cake tower supporting an octagonal domed cupola with clock. A large statue of Justice is perched at the top of the cupola.
It's an altogether fantastical building.
Edgar County was named for John Edgar, pioneer and merchant. Edgar had been an officer in English Army but refused to fight the Americans in the Revolution and ended up settling in Kaskaskia.
Mercer County Courthouse
Aledo, Illinois
Visited: October 11, 2020
Erected: 1895
Architect: Miflin Emien Bell
Here's another town and county that I'd never even heard of before we started this adventure (it's just southwest of the Quad Cities). The courthouse is built of sandstone and has three stories. There are two appealing half towers with turrets flanking the entrance over a small columned portico. A lovely square tower with clock and small corner turrets cap of the gabled roof. Nothing terribly extraordinary, I guess, but just a really attractive building on its grassy setting.
Aledo is a railroad town, having built once the rails were extended to this region. Aledo seems to be doing ok, compared to a number of other rural towns in Illinois. It hosts an annual rhubarb festival that I'm sort of eager to attend.
Mercer County was named for Hugh Mercer, doctor and soldier killed in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolution.
Pike County Courthouse
Pittsfield, Illinois
Visited: October 9, 2020
Erected: 1895
Architect: Henry Elliot
Here's a smaller (and in my opinion) slightly more pleasing version of the magnificent courthouse in Paris. Without even checking, it is obvious these two buildings share the same architect (as does the courthouse in Jerseyville...see below).
This building is built of sandstone, is more or less octagonal, has covered porticos on its four corners, sports narrow Gothic arched windows on the second floor, has a steep red gabled roof, and is topped by another wedding cake tower with clock and domed cupola. Unlike Edgar County's building, there is no statue of Justice capping off the tower. It's a very handsome building.
Pike County is one of the larger counties in the state and lies between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This area was part of the Judicial Circuit that Abraham Lincoln served, and so Lincoln was a frequent visitor to Pittsfield. As a result, Pittsfield is the city in the United States that has the most direct preserved huildings related to Abraham Lincoln.
Pike County was named for explorer Zebulon Pike.
Christian County Courthouse
Taylorville, Illinoia
Visited: January 2, 2021
Erected: 1902
Architect: J W Caddis
Another really solid building in a pretty nice town. This building is three stories and built of limestone. There's a nice wing projecting out the front with a large arched entrance. There's one really large gable atop this extension and a square clock tower with corner turrets and a copper roofed peak.
This was one of the courthouses that seems to have a soundtrack playing on its grounds--sort of strange but also sort of nice. (Pontiac and Lincoln also had music playing from speakers on the courthouse square.)
Christian County was another county on Lincoln's judicial circuit. There's an odd statue of Lincoln on the courthouse grounds with some pigs. The story is sort of garbled, but apparently when Lincoln was there the courthouse was a small wooden building and pigs were kept under it...and Lincoln used their existence as a defense for some plaintiff.
Christian County is named for Christian County, Kentucky, which is where many of original settlers came from.
Jersey County Courthouse
Jerseyville, Illinois
Visited: October 12, 2020
Erected: 1895
Architect: Henry Elliot
Jersey County Courthouse has the same distinctive Gothic tower that we've seen in Paris and Pittsfield. The building is very similar in many respects, but this one is rectangular rather than octagonal. There are very lovely arched windows on the second floor and very attractive pointed towers on each corner of the facade. There is a large porch with an absolutely magnificent stone staircase leading up to the entrance.
The building is on nice grassy square, but not right on the main thoroughfare as is usually the case, so it seems a little out of the way, even though it faces the post office and the library. Just to the right of the courthouse is a HUGE bandstand or pavilion--probably the biggest we've seen.
Jersey County is named for New Jersey which was the home of many of the early settlers.
Kane County Courthouse
Geneva, Illinois
Visited: November 1, 2020
Erected: 1882
Architects: W.J.Edbrooke and Franklin P Burnham
The Kane County Courthouse is one of the most distinctive and imposing court buildings we encountered. The red stone gives it an presence unusual compared to all the sandstone and limestone buildings. It has three massive arches at the entrance, a solid, almost unornamented facade and a very large (but squat) tower with a squarish copper dome. It is positioned on a significant hill, which adds to its sense of magnitude.
It's clear that Geneva is one of the most affluent cities to serve as a county seat. The downtown area is just packed with upscale retail boutiques and trendy restaurants. It is quite picturesque, positioned just on the banks of the Fox River.
Kane County was named after Elias Kane, Illinois' first Secretary of State.
Ogle County Courthouse
Oregon, Illinois
Viewed: September 11, 2016
Erected: 1891
Architect: George Gamsey
The Ogle County Courthouse is an extremely handsome building built of red brick, which is a departure from the rough stone typical of Romanesque Revival buildings. It does possess an enormously striking rough stone arch above the main entrance and rough stone foundation that gives it the air of a medieval castle, The second story windows have semi circular arches made more dramatic by a stone highlight marking each curve. The projection that houses the entrance has a peaked roof, as do the four towers on each corner. There is a brick square tower in the center of the pitched roof capped by a striking wooden cupola painted white.
Oregon sits right on the Rock River; the city is across the river from Lowden State Park, which holds the magnificent huge Native American statue by Laredo Taft. Also, the courthouse grounds holds probably the nicest memorial for soldiers of any we saw--a bronze and stone soldier's monument also designed by Laredo Taft.
Ogle County was named for Joseph Ogle, a Revolutionary War soldier who settled in Illinois.
Champaign County Courthouse
Urbana, Illinois
Visited: January 6, 2021
Erected: 1901
Architect: Joseph Royer
I fully admit I should like the Champaign County Courthouse more than I do. I lived in Champaign-Urbana for a lot of years in the 1980s and 1990s, so I'm very familiar with it...yet it seems to me completely alien. Over its lifetime, the tower was struck by lightning at least four times resulting in the top 80 feet of the tower being removed. When I was living there the tower stopped just above the clock and had a strange open metal pyramidal structure that held a bell. Granted, it looked a little strange, but it is how I came to know the building. Sometime after 2000, the tower was reconstructed to its original height and the Seth Thomas clock was completely restored. It certainly was a worthwhile effort, but somehow I still miss the markedly inferior tower I first knew.
The courthouse is a three-story building constructed of red sandstone and mottled brick. There is an arch at the base of the tower marking the main entrance, arched windows on the third floor, and a very tall clock tower with steep pitched roof. The tower's height is nicely accentuated by soaring multi-story arched openings just above the roof line. There are also stone decorative carvings at each peak and all around the tower.
The building would present a better effect, I think, if it weren't sitting so close to the street. A large modern, though not distracting, addition has been built on the east side of the building. In an understandable but unfortunate bit of donor recognition, the name "Robinson" is inscribed in stone just above the main entrance. Apparently the tower is now known as the "Robinson Tower" in honor of the family that gave most of the funds to pay for the restoration. But as far as I could tell, there was no description of this, and so it is strange to see the seemingly unrelated word "Robinson" carved into stone where one should expect to see "Champaign County Courthouse" if anything at all should be carved into the ediface. Seems to me there could have been a better way to give credit to the Robinsons.
Having lived there for so many years, I dearly love Champaign-Urbana and the University of Illinois so it is hard to know what to objectively say about the area. One might be surprised that the county seat is in Urbana rather than Champaign, Urbana being the older and initially prime city. But the Illinois Central Railroad as built west of Urbana, and the city of West Urbana (later Champaign) became a more important city due primarily to growth related to rail traffic.
Champaign County was named for Champaign County, Ohio, whose county seat is also Urbana.
Coles County Courthouse
Charleston, Illinois
Visited: August 13, 2020
Erected: 1899
Architect: Cornelius Rapp
There are several courthouses in this category with quite similar appearance. This building is highly reminiscent of the courthouses in Aledo and Taylorville, although it seems by far the biggest of the trio. Its size is the main reason for this one ranking a little below the others, only in that the tower seems sort of small and remote relative to the scope of the main building. Otherwise, there's very little to find fault with.
The courthouse is constructed of buff colored limestone. The entrance is marked by three very fine stone arches flanked by two rather nice octagonal towers attached to the facade. The roof is steeply pitched with pavilions in the four corners with their own pitched roofs. And as mentioned earlier, in the center of the building is a thin but quite tall clock tower with its own pitched roof.
Coles County has the distinction of having been the site of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon incidents during the 1940s in nearby Mattoon. For a stretch of time, there were many reports of residents being "gassed" by a mysterious figure. The exact nature of the incidents were not ever explained, but people complained of nausea, drowsiness, etc. even though no one died or suffered any lasting medical consequences. It has never been determined whether there was actually any substance to the phenomenon or if it was just an instance of mass hysteria.
Coles County is named for Edward Coles, second governor of Illinois.
Monmouth, Illinois
Visited: October 10, 2020
Erected: 1895
Architect: O.W. Marble
In spite of being designed by an architect whose name sounds like it should be some sort of joke, the Warren County Courthouse gives the impression of being super-serious, unfortunately to its detriment.
The building is of red sandstone, three stories with the first floor set partway into the ground. A massive stair rises to a stone porch under which one finds the main entrance. There is a large central gable on the front three sides of the building, arched windows on the top floor, and a large flat-topped tower (which really ought to have a clock but does not).
There's something brutal and crushing about this building. It may be the imposing darkness of the stone. Or perhaps it is the plethora of relics of war all over the grounds. It just doesn't feel like a building one could easily be fond of.
Monmouth was originally to be called "Koskiusco" because the name was drawn from a hat. But leaders feared the name would be hard to remember and to spell, and so Monmouth was suggested by a resident present who had lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Warren County is named for Dr. Joseph Warren, soldier at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He is believed to be the first American officer killed in the American Revolution.
Knox County Courthouse
Galesburg, Illinois
Visited: October 10, 2020
Erected: 1886
Architect: Elijah E Meyers
The Knox County Courthouse has to be one of the greatest disappointments among the courthouses we saw. Expectations were high knowing that this building shares its architect with two of the finest courthouses in the state (in Carlinville and Macomb) and three state capitols. This building would be ok if it weren't or the ungainly top-heavy clock tower.
The building is thee stories, built of buff limestone. It has arched windows on the third floor and a steeply pitched roof. There is a five-story clock tower on the northeast corner that just lacks grace. It swells in circumference above the roofline to house a large clock, tapers a little with a steep roofline, but then is capped with another short tower with its own pitched roof. Overall it gives an impression of clumsiness.
The building sits in a very large park, among the biggest of any we saw across the state. The effect of roominess is accentuated by he lawns of Knox College that sits just opposite the courthouse.
Galesburg is noted for a number of things, but most surprisingly as the place where the Marx Brothers first got their nicknames Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Gummo. (Zeppo got his name later.)
Knox County is named for Revolutionary War hero Henry Knox.
La Salle County Courthouse
Ottowa, Illinois
Visited: February 7, 2021
Erected: 1883
Architect: Minard Lefevre Beers
I don't believe this is rightly a Romanesque Revival building, but it is rather an outlier and is as much in this as any other category.
Like Romanesque buildings, it is constructed of rough stone and has tons of arched windows and bays. On the other hand, it has a flat roof that makes it seem more Renaissance than Medieval.
Ottawa continues to have a high number of radium-contaminated sites all around town left from when factories existed where women workers applied radium to clock faces to make them glow. The factory was finally closed in 1978.
La Salle County is named for Robert de La Salle, a French explorer who was reportedly the first European to explore the Illinois River territory.
Greene County Courthouse
Carrollton, Illinois
Visited: October 12, 2020
Erected: 1892
Architect: Henry Elliot
Here's the fourth building designed by the same architect as Paris, Pittsfield, and Jerseyville. One can see the similarities, but this building is far less successful in my estimation.
It has the same rough sandstone finish and the blocky stone porch. But it is solidly rectangular, and without the wedding cake tower of the others, it seems entirely earthbound. It doesn't help that, I guess in the interests of energy efficiency, the round arched windows have been blocked up entirely. Even the rectangular windows on the first floor look like they've been reduced in size.
There is a large statue, presumably of "Justice"installed on the top or the roof. I don't know if this is original or if it was a later addition It is a detail that seems awkwardly out or place.
Carrollton is one of the few Illinois cities that I just didn't feel comfortable in, even though I can really come up with any explanation why.
Greene County is named for War hero Nathaniel Greene.
Crawford County Courthouse
Robinson, Illinois
Visited: August 14, 2020
Erected: 1896
Architect: John W Gaddis
Here's a building that was probably very attractive when it was built. but sometime over the years, a fire destroyed the roof and so rather than rebuild in its original configuration, the top was replaced with a flat roof. It would Mae a really imposing high school, but looks rather forlorn as a courthouse.
It has several traits in common with the really lovely Ogle County building--impressive entry arches, red brick, limestone trim, etc. Apparently the original roof was quite steeply pitched with an interesting roof profile. Even though not original to the building, the current stone lettering of "Crawford County Courthouse" is sort of an Art Deco masterpiece.
According to several websites, there was an intention to raise money to restore the original roof; these reports are really quite old, and so I'm guessing that that project has gone no where. I do think the building would be considerably more attractive with the original roof. (And here, unlike in Urbana, it would make at least a tiny amount of sense to carve "Robinson" in the facade.)
Robinson is home to one of the saddest museums I've ever visited: the Heath Museum. Heath Bars were invented there, but Hershey now owns the company and so I think the local pride in the brand has decreased a great deal.
Crawford County was named in honor of William H. Crawford from Georgia who was serving as Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury at the time the county was formed.
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