In 1841

In 1841. H.H. Richardson's Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail. , "In the courthouse and jail the man was bigger than the style." Frank Lloyd Wright [1935], In 1841 the second Allegheny County Courthouse was erected on Grant's Hill, a more prominent site than the Market Square location of the first Courthouse and appropriate for a city expanding eastward. The Greek Revival building was designed by John Chislett (1800-69), a native of Bath, England, who became one of Pittsburgh's leading professional architects. Chislett's Courthouse burned in 1882., The Completion , Henry Hobson Richardson was among the architects who received an invitation in 1883 to design the Allegheny County Buildings; he did not respond. Five architects were chosen to submit a design; Andrew Peebles of Pittsburgh, John Ord of Philadelphia, W.W. Boyington of Chicago, Elijah Myers of Detroit, and George B. Post of New York. When Post withdrew, Richardson was approached again, perhaps at the urging of his Harvard classmate, Pittsburgh businessman John Ricketson; this time he accepted. The competition drawings were exhibited in Pittsburgh in early January 1884 and Richardson's design was chosen on January 31, 1884. Construction began in 1884. The Jail was completed in 1886; the Courthouse in 1888., Courthouse and Jail: The Significance of the Plan , The Courthouse plan provided a central courtyard ensuring natural light on both sides to courtrooms and offices arranged around it. Stairways in each corner of the courtyard and the Grand Staircase in the base of the tower provide easy access to upper floors., The architect's plan for the courtyard was not followed. He intended that it be paved in brick with a horse fountain in the center. It was paved in asphalt and over time became a congested parking lot. In 1976, $64,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation enabled the County, assisted by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation to create the park and fountain seen today., Courtroom suites consisted of a 27-foot-high courtroom and adjacent two-story judge's chambers with jury deliberation rooms above. Natural light from street-side and courtyard-side windows lit the courtrooms, with additional light provided by elegant brass chandeliers. Courtroom ceilings were constructed of brick arches (plastered and painted) supported by a great iron girder. Woodwork and furnishings were light oak. Courtroom has been restored to its original appearance., [Captions:] , The rounded arch , perhaps the best known element in Richardson's work , is adapted from the Romanesque architecture of the early 11th century., As was common building practice at the time, some of the materials and many of the workmen came with the architect. The contractor was Norcross Brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts. The stone carvers were employed by Evans and Tombs of Boston. The granite for the exterior walls was cut in Massachusetts quarries and sent to Pittsburgh. Foundation walls were sandstone from Beaver, Pennsylvania; room tile came from Akron, Ohio; and iron and glass came from Allegheny County. Davenport and Company of Boston provided the furniture. The Courthouse and Jail were erected for about $2,400,000., The Courthouse wears Romanesque ornament interpreted through Victorian eyes. The designs are mostly of flower and leaf forms and they owe as much to English naturalism and its desire to depict botanical forms as they do to Romanesque architecture., The Jail was completed June 1886 and first occupied in September 1886. In 1904-08 the Jail was enlarged. Two cellblocks were doubled in size, a new cellbock was built, and a new wall erected along Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Pittsburgh architect Frederick J. Osterling succeeded in making his addition harmonize with the older building., The Bridge of Sighs is modeled on the 16th-century bridge by that name between the Doge's Palace and the city prison in Venice, Italy., The Jail is simple and dignified, its massive granite walls almost without decoration., The main entrance on Ross Street led to a large eight-sided tower; it is a rotunda from which three cellblocks extended to form a "T"., "As to architectural effect, with the atmospheric difficulties of the locality in view, the design has been to provide a building the character of which should depend on its outlines, on the massing and accentuation of the main features representing its leading purposes, and on the relation of the openings to the solid parts… The intention has been to produce that sense of solidity requisite in dignified monumental work, by a careful study of the piers and by a quiet and massive treatment of the wall surfaces. In accordance with this policy, projecting string-courses and cornices, and elaborate capitals and carvings, are as much as possible avoided, and no dependence for architectural effect is placed upon features liable to be disported by time." , H.H. Richardson , 1884, In 1888, visitors to the Courthouse walked up a few steps from the original Grant Street level and across a broad terrace to enter the main doorways., When Grant Street was lowered in 1912-13 (as much as 16 feet at Grant Street and Fifth Avenue), the terrace became the landing of a grand staircase above three new ground-floor entrances., When Grant Street was widened between 1926 and 1929, the grand staircase was distinguished. Visitors entered on the ground floor and climbed a new interior stairway to the lobby. The original doorways became windows, high above the ground., The "nostrils" at the top of the tower were designed to admit air into the building. Fans were to circulate the air through the basement to expel it from the twin towers overlooking Ross Street. This system was adapted from one installed in the Houses of Parliament in London., The base of the tower contains the Grand Staircase and once housed the Law Library, while the upper portion was intended for records storage., The 325-foot tower dominated the skyline for 14 years. The Frick Building (1901-02) block the view but doesn't intimidate Richardson's tower.