Marquette County Courthouse

Marquette County Courthouse
Location 400 South 3rd Street, Marquette, Michigan
Coordinates 46°32′30″N 87°23′47″W / 46.54167°N 87.39639°W / 46.54167; -87.39639Coordinates: 46°32′30″N 87°23′47″W / 46.54167°N 87.39639°W / 46.54167; -87.39639
Area less than 1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built 1904
Built by Northern Construction Co.
Architect Charlton, Gilbert & Kuenzli
Architectural style Classical Revival
NRHP Reference # 78001506[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP March 29, 1978
Designated MSHS August 6, 1976[2]

The Marquette County Courthouse is a government building located at 400 South 3rd Street in Marquette, Michigan. It designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976[2] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1] The courthouse was the setting of the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger.

History

Marquette County Courthouse c. 1905

In 1857, the first Marquette County courthouse, a wooden Greek Revival structure, was built on this site.[3] By the turn of the century, that structure had become inadequate. In 1902, voters approved the issuance of $120,000 worth of bonds to construct a new courthouse. The earlier structure was moved off the site, and the county hired Marquette architect D. Fred Charlton (Charlton, Gilbert & Demar/Charlton & Kuenzli) to design the building. Northern Construction Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was hired to construct the building.[4] The county eventually spent $240,000 to complete the structure; it was completed in 1904.[3]

The courthouse was the site of a famous 1913 libel case, where President Theodore Roosevelt won a judgment against Ishpeming newspaper publisher George Newett.[2] Roosevelt was awarded six cents, "the price of a good newspaper." Another later case tried here inspired John D. Voelker's novel, Anatomy of a Murder. The 1959 movie version of the novel, directed by Otto Preminger, was filmed in the courthouse.[2]

In 1982–84, the courthouse was renovated at a cost of $2.4 million.[2] A new courthouse and jail was built nearby, connected by a tunnel, but the 1904 building remains in use.[2]

Architecture and design

Dome of Marquette County Courthouse

The Marquette County Courthouse is a Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical structure, with a central three-story mass flanked by two-story wings.[3] It is built almost entirely of local sandstone over a steel frame.[2] A colossal portico covers the entrance, lined with 23-foot (7.0 m) granite Doric columns from Maine.[4] A Doric entablature with copper cornice rings the roofline. A copper dome surmounts the building, and sits above the second-floor courtroom.[3]

Inside, the courtroom is finished with mahogany and marble. Mosaic tiles, wool carpeting, and stained glass fill the building.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (March 13, 2009). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Marquette County Courthouse". Historic Sites Online. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Eckert, Kathryn Bishop (2000), The sandstone architecture of the Lake Superior region, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pp. 131–2, ISBN 0-8143-2807-5
  4. 1 2 3 Fedynsky, John (2010), Michigan's County Courthouses, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 116–7, ISBN 0-472-11728-9
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