Courthouse Place

“North Market Hall, a combination market and police station built in 1851, was the first governmental structure to occupy the site. The second building on the site, the Criminal Courthouse, was the location of the trial resulting from the world-famous Haymarket Affair of 1886.”

“The design of this courthouse was directly influenced by the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Courthouse and Jail designed by Henry H. Richardson, the renowned architect whose personal interpretation of the Romanesque style has come to be known as Richardsonian Romanesque.”

“The Romanesque style of this courthouse became a popular one for courthouse design during the next two decades. This style with its powerful massing, represented a sense of solidity and portrayed the symbolic significance of the courthouse in local government.”

“The City sold the building in 1985 to a developer whose extensive renovation created modern office spaces in a sensitively restored historic environment. Of particular note in the renovation were the cleaning and repair of the facade and the lobby restoration, which included rebuilding the original configuration of the dual staircase and the surprise discovery and replication of the original stencil pattern.”

“The Criminal Courthouse was demolished in 1892, and replaced by the present Romanesque style Cook County Criminal Courts Building, designed by Cook County Architect Otto H. Matz and completed in 1893.”

“In 1868, the Chicago Board of Education appointed him architect of the Chicago public schools, although he also continued his private practice. The Nixon and Doggett buildings were private commissions designed by Matz in 1871 and completed in 1872.”