May 2025.
Pickaway County’s courthouse is an interesting union of Greek Revival and Romanesque Revival forms, which resulted from a renovation to an existing, older courthouse. It’s rather horizontal and low, but the large bell tower adds a touch of verticality.
The Pickaway County Courthouse is located at 207 South Court Street in downtown Circleville, Ohio. It is bordered by Franklin Street and City Hall to the north, larger houses to the south, Court Street and commercial buildings to the east, and the Pickaway County Jail to the west.
History
Pickaway County was one of the first counties established in Ohio, composed of land that was previously part of Franklin, Fairfield, and Ross counties. Ohio’s general assembly passed the act creating the county in 1810, and Circleville (founded shortly beforehand) was named the county seat.
Photo of the home where the county court first met. (Courthouse History)
The court first met in a room inside Henry Nevill’s home in Jefferson (now a ghost town), and in 1811 they rented the upper story of Jacob Zieger’s Circleville house until 1814. The above image from a different source refers to the house by a different name and date, which I’m assuming is the name of a later owner.
1836 watercolor map of Circleville with its original city plan. The courthouse stood in the middle of the circle. (Wikimedia)
Pickaway County’s first purpose-built courthouse was built from 1813-1814, in the middle of the circular city plan. This octagonal building was in use until 1838, as farm animals would roam freely in the city center and became a nuisance. When Circleville changed its layout to a traditional grid (completed 1856), a new courthouse was built with it. This Greek Revival building was built between 1845 and 1847 by Columbus architect N. B. Kelly.
Circleville’s 1847 courthouse (featuring its 1870s tower) before alterations. (Ohio Channel)
The Greek Revival second courthouse had a simple rectangular plan in the manner of a classical temple. Its cupola was altered multiple times over the years, first in the 1850s and again in the 1870s with the addition of clocks. This flamboyant second tower seemed to be in the Second Empire style, much different from the more literal and severe Greek Revival design.
The courthouse’s appearance immediately before its alterations.
By the 1880s, two wings were added on either side of the original building, but the courthouse was beginning to be perceived as run-down. The materiality was also changed to ashlar blocks, and the pediment seemed to have been altered.
The courthouse after its 1889 alterations. (Courthouse History)
The Pickaway County Courthouse was extensively altered by architects Weary & Kramer beginning in 1888. These plans were very controversial upon their inception, largely due to the odd placement of the tower. Parts of the building were completely redesigned according to the Romanesque Revival style, such as the pediment and new tower. The end result is a composition clearly informed by both styles, namely the symmetry and certain decorative features of the Greek Revival and the fenestration and materiality of the Romanesque Revival (even though those features existed prior).
The various bells prior to their installation. (Ohio Channel)
The bells inside the tower were donated by William Forsman, a local landowner, in honor of Circleville’s veterans who were killed in action. They were purchased and installed in 1926. In his will, he left money to the city to maintain them, stipulating that they be rung at least once a day. The system was automated in 1999.
An addition was built onto the southwest side of the courthouse in 1937, which maintains similar denticulation but is built out of brick and doesn’t quite match the original design. Beyond that, the building remains largely unaltered on the exterior.
Photos
Man, this courthouse was tough to shoot straight-on because of its width. This picture isn’t quite centered and is a little underexposed, but it’s the best I have:
Note how the large central gable remains intact and how the wings follow classical ideals of symmetry. If you stripped away the Romanesque masonry, this would not look much different from a Beaux-Arts/Neoclassical building. However, the more eclectic nature of Romanesque Revival architecture creeps in with the arched windows and the bell tower thrusting through the pediment, adding a touch of asymmetricality.
The 1937 addition is visible from this angle--its position in an alley is rather out of the way:
Now that I think about it, the unassuming nature is probably due to it being tucked behind the original courthouse. It’s not worth going bananas with detail on an area that’s rarely seen.
Closer look at the pediment and clock tower (you’re gonna see a lot more of that tower in a bit):
Broken pediments aren’t unusual in classically-inspired architecture, especially the more flamboyant flavors like Second Empire and Beaux-Arts, but they are not broken in an asymmetrical manner. The tower’s placement and corbeled nature on the front facade is also weird. Most towers I see are placed in the center of the roof or at least at some point along a centerline (Licking and Shelby County’s are centrally placed), or they are mounted on the middle of the gable or anchored to the ground on one of the facades (Wood County’s is centrally mounted, and Greene County’s is asymmetrically placed but anchored), yet here neither happens. This feature is apparently the most controversial aspect about the building’s design.
Let’s look at some of the details on the principal facade. The pedimented entrance has an interesting relief on it:
Lady Justice holds a sword, thrusting towards a chimera, possibly representing evil or injustice. A two-headed snake is behind it, which has a similar meaning. The first floor also has beautiful stained glass inside its vaulted windows:
The pilasters and corbels that support the tower have richly carved capitals:
The space within the pediment is filled with carvings and a circular window, much different from its empty nature originally.
The dark stone and spiral carvings remind me of a stone filled with fossils of prehistoric sea creatures or ferns. The dark ashlar makes the detail less visible, but it adds an interesting texture.
Here’s another look at the tower from a different angle:
The double-arched vents are a very typical Romanesque feature. The top is rather classical with its corner pilasters and pedimented opening they support.
In the rear, the building originally formed a “T” in plan, but it’s closer to an “F” now with the 1937 addition:
The detailing on the lower portion of the tower is really great.
Lots of subtle features make this portion pop. The slightly rusticated but regular ashlar below is repeated in the voussoirs, but in the spandrels between the vault and the pilasters a smaller, cubic cut of stone is used. The capitals of the pilasters have beautiful florid capitals, and the architrave above has fancy volutes with a grotesque below. These, combined with the pinnacles above, add an almost Gothic touch to the tower. I love those latter details in particular, so here’s a better look:
The white top with its more classically-inspired details is a bit of a departure from the remainder of the courthouse. Indeed, in a work dominated by earthy brown and red tones, the white really sticks out:
The Pickaway County Courthouse was the first courthouse I covered that wasn’t fully classical in its design. In my experience, most built before 1920ish typically are, so this was an interesting exploration into a less common style as it applies to civic architecture.
Sources:
https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/ohio-courthouses-seats-of-justice-pickaway-county
https://www.courthousehistory.com/gallery/states/ohio/counties/pickaway
https://courthouses.co/us-states/o-u/ohio/pickaway-county-2/
https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002171.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=128090007041258&id=100095207787272
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