Hardin County Courthouse (Iowa)

Hardin County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
File:Hardin County IA Courthouse.jpg
Location	Edgington Avenue Eldora, Iowa
Coordinates
Built	1892
Architect	T.D. Allen
Architectural style	Romanesque
MPS	County Courthouses in Iowa TR
NRHP Reference #	81000242
Added to NRHP	July 2, 1981

The Hardin County Courthouse, located in Eldora, Iowa, United States, was built in 1892. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places July 2, 1981, as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building to house court functions and county administration.

History

The first courthouse in Hardin County was a two-story frame structure built in 1856. It was destroyed in a fire the same year and a new courthouse replaced it the following year. The current courthouse opened in 1892 at a cost of $48,000.

In 1921, the roof and tower were damaged by a fire which spread from the adjacent Wisner Opera House. In 1967, the state fire marshall declared the structure unsafe. The following year, voters approved a bond sale to fund repairs. Work included replacing electrical, mechanical systems and windows; filling-in the central rotunda; replacing wood beams and floors with concrete and steel and installing an elevator. County workers vacated the building in July 1969 and returned to the renewed facility in October 1970. The final cost ran to $422,000, supplemented by private donations for landscaping.

Architecture

T.D. Allen, architect of the courthouses in Dickinson and Franklin counties, designed Hardin's courthouse in the Romanesque Revival style with elements of other styles. The exterior of the building is faced with St. Louis pressed brick and rests on a raised ground story covered in rusticated pink Kasota stone. A checkerboard pattern of brick and rusticated stone adorns the area just above main entrance and the façaces of the east and west gables. The same stone frames the windows. Characteristic Richardsonian arches, supported by red granite columns, frame the north and south entrances. However, the corner turrets, hipped roof, cross gables, and hewn stone trim are more typical of the Queen Anne style. The building's 128-foot (39 m) bell tower is reminiscent of those Italian town centers. Statues of Justice, Mercy and Liberty occupy the alcove beneath the bell tower. The semi-circular transoms on the middle east and west windows feature the seal of the State of Iowa in frosted glass.