Marquette County Courthouse

Marquette County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site
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
Governing body:	Local
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 becom 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

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. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Marquette County Courthouse". Historic Sites Online. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/9797.htm. Retrieved July 13, 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Eckert, Kathryn Bishop (2000), The sandstone architecture of the Lake Superior region, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pp. 131–2, ISBN 0814328075, http://books.google.com/books?id=b68xzUc0y3IC&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Fedynsky, John (2010), Michigan's County Courthouses, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 116–7, ISBN 0472117289, http://books.google.com/books?id=ogrel7yYnvQC&pg=PA116#v=onepage&q&f=false