H.H. Richardson and The Allegheny County Courthouse

H.H. Richardson and the Allegheny County Court House.
An Architectural Appreciation
Article Two

The Allegheny County Courthouse is one of five Historic Landmarks in Pittsburgh. The building occupies an entire city block, rising majestically from the property line at the sidewalk. It is the seat of Justice and it projects an august presence to the people. It was designed by the American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and was completed just after his death in 1886. The style is Romanesque, or more specifically, Richardson Romanesque. Richardson is the only world-class architect whose name has been given to a building style.

He was the second American to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After completing his studies he spent time in the south of France where he observed the native Romanesque style. Romanesque was the first architectural style in western civilization that did not follow the dictates of the classical order. In the south of France it was in essence a folk style which achieved a cultural identity. Its outstanding characteristics are Roman arches, barrel vaults, and flat walls. An earlier work of Richardson’s Romanesque reference is Trinity Church on Copley Square in Boston, his first major success.

A study of the two buildings, one at the beginning of his career and one at the end, will illustrate how the man used the historic reference to create a personal idiom. In the church, artistic decoration, as dictated by the Ecole des Beaux Arts, was created by John La Farge in murals and stained glass windows. The exterior uses stones of different colors. In the courthouse the fully mature and confident Richardson has used only stone of one color to create surface textures and interest. He has allowed the flatness of the interior to be seen as having interest in and of its own. There is no need in Richardson Romanesque for applied ornamentation. Richardson Romanesque has its own integrity: it is organic.

Incidentally, when in Boston, do not fail to visit Richardson’s Sever Hall in Harvard Yard, a masterpiece in brick.

The Courthouse is six and seven stories high. Above the main block of the building there is a very high tower in the front and two smaller towers in the back. Square towers are at each corner. The construction is load-bearing walls. With load bearing walls, for every floor above the first an additional thickness of approximately six inches must be added to the first floor, thinning toward the top floors. This creates very thick walls on the ground floor and requires massive footings for the supporting piers. (In Boston, the footings for the piers for Trinity Church can be seen in that basement: those supports have a foot print the size of a Milford Mansion: it is a tall church.) One of the great challenges of architecture is to take this massive pile of stone and give it a sense of grace and lightness. Richardson succeeded.

The Courthouse building material is champagne colored granite. On the outside the stones are rough-hewn and on the inside the surfaces are flat but not polished. The floors are unpolished black marble. In early high-rise buildings one of the prime considerations was the need to supply light and air to the workers inside. Here Richardson created an open central courtyard that meets that need and gives him the opportunity to make a masterful display of architectural genius. The stones are varied in size, courses of large blocks alternate with courses of smaller blocks. The top floor is all small blocks, giving the building a sense of gracefulness. This is completed with a steeply pitched gable roof.

The doorways from the courtyard into the building are Romanesque arches, wide arches defined by several courses of stone and springing from low columns. The windows on each floor but the last are arched. On the top floor they are trabeate, with lintels. That, in effect, draws a straight line across the top of the building and indicates that the wall has come to an end. Because of the interplay between scale and proportion, this defined space is so beautiful one can sit in this courtyard and leisurely study this building for hours.

The highlight of the building’s interior is the grand staircase. It begins with a half flight of stairs framed by a Romanesque arch, one-third the width of the large area where it starts. It appears to have a vaulted ceiling, but it does not: it is a series of three arches, one at the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top of those stairs. On the first landing, arches frame accesses to open hallways at both sides. The next level of stairs is also framed with an arch. At the top a landing directs the visitor to stairs at the left and to the right. There is a view from the windows down into the courtyard. The filtered sunlight is magnificent. The ascent continues through a series of arches, stairs, and landings for three floors. At the top landing one turns for the last half flight and sees a majestic arched doorway framing mahogany doors at the top. There can be no doubt that this is where Justice resides.

This stairway is a veritable symphony of arches, small, medium, and large. Climbing to the top I was reminded of T.S. Eliot’s remark that when poetry becomes music it ceases to be poetry. I will not say that this architecture is music but it does ring with a sustained note of purity.

Filling the city block behind the courthouse is the Allegheny County Jail built of the same stone. It was inspired by the series of etching done by Piranesi, “Imaginary Prisons.” High above the street the two building are connected by a pedestrian bridge. Those just sentenced were escorted over the street to the jail. The bridge is a copy of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. The pun was intended by the architect. Great art works are human; they have their sense of humor.

Richardson grew up in New Orleans. He spent his adult years and did most of his work in the Boston area. But his self acknowledged masterpiece, The Allegheny County Courthouse, is in Pennsylvania. A gourmand, a man with a taste for the good life, Richardson died at the age of forty-six.

Post script: The example of Richardson Romanesque architecture nearest to Milford is The Thrall Library in Downtown Middletown. The original Erie Railroad Station was Richardson Romanesque. Richardson designed many railroad stations. He did not design this one; it merely indicates his influence. When the new library was built, the station was beautifully restored and the new building adjoining it was perfectly married to it in the modern idiom through a very careful match of design and materials. The station is now a reading room. When you step into that room you are immediately captivated by its many charming details. When you turn back to the library you will be awed by the magnificent golden oak, Richardson Romanesque arch way that once lead to the waiting trains. Through his work and his influence, H.H. Richardson continues to make it possible for us to understand why great architecture is our highest art form.
Published in the Pike County Dispatch