Second Courthouse, 100 Courthouse Square
Cosmo O'Neal, Fall 2024
The courthouse of Madison, Alabama has four different buildings in the same location. The first courthouse lasted from 1811 to 1839. The rapid growth of Huntsville from 2500 to 40000 people caused the need for a new courthouse building. The second courthouse lasted from 1840 to 1913. The third courthouse spanned from 1914 to 1966, and the fourth and current courthouse, built in 1967, has lasted until the current day when the population has spiked at a rapid rate since the nineteenth century. The four courthouses can help represent the progress of the city of Huntsville.
George Steele had the original plan for the second courthouse. His template had the courthouse looking similar to an ancient Greek temple. Steele liked the idea of reflecting ancient Greek and Roman architecture on American buildings. Both the State Bank of Alabama and the second courthouse reflect this idea of Steele’s ideas. As the conflict with the British intensified during the War of 1812, the architecture federal style started to decrease in popularity. This resulted from the people of the States not wanting to use the common type of British architecture. This rapid shift in movements influenced Steele’s ideas for the courthouse which explains why it shares many qualities with ancient Greek architecture. In Steele’s early works in Huntsville, his buildings had Federal style; however, since the movement took a while to reach the south this means most of Steele’s customers wanted their houses in a Federal style compared to the classical style that Steele used in both the State Bank and Courthouse. Steele’s plan for the second courthouse took a lot of inspiration from a church from Asher Benjamin's Practice of Architecture. Benjamin, well-known for his classical architecture notebooks, often helps architects in the United States understand the required basics of classical architecture. The courthouse and the church share the same feature of having stairwells in the corners of the building. Steele also used other ideas from Benjamin's writing: a colonnade in the interior away from the side walls for support, Doric columns on the exterior of the building, and the hexastyle portico of the building. These features of the courthouse assure that Steele used the Practice of Architecture to help him provide a layout for the courthouse. George Steele’s design of the second courthouse shows the revival of classical architecture in the south, which differs in style from the more common federal buildings found in Alabama. George Steele’s ideas of classical architecture reflect themselves in both the third and fourth courthouses.
A change in purpose for the courthouse required the renovation of the building to help the building serve its new purpose. In the late seventeenth century the usage of the building included: a center for the community to gather, church gatherings, and organizing a library. A lack of development in the city of Huntsville resulted in the courthouse's utilization of many things. For example, since no churches existed in Huntsville in the early 1800’s, the people had to use the courthouse to worship. However, as society developed the increased industrialization created the downtown Huntsville seen today. This resulted in the courthouse no longer needing to serve its previous functions. However, as the population of Huntsville expanded the courthouse had new uses. As the county government grew, the courthouse grew as well due to an increase in the number of offices required. Since the courthouse no longer needed to host the community for several events this meant that its usage would shift for solely legal reasons. The shift from community gatherings to the courthouse's legal purpose helps reflect Huntsville's development.
Even though the purpose of the building has changed since the second courthouse in 1840, the current courthouse reflects Steele's ideas from the second courthouse. For example, the current courthouse still has columns similar to the ones seen in the second courthouse. This shows that the people of Huntsville supported Steele’s idea for a revival of classical architecture and now it has become part of the city. Similar to the second courthouse, the current courthouse also has a rectangular base. The courthouse location in the center of the square of both the second and fourth courthouses shows the importance of the building in both a historical and modern context. George Steele’s architectural design of the courthouse also represents the prosperous city of Huntsville. Steele’s revival of classical architecture can symbolize the revival of Huntsville from the 2500 settlers to the 200000 citizens that live there today. A city that once had to use a courthouse for all of its gatherings, now acknowledged as one of the most prosperous cities in the United States still has a courthouse in the town square which has also grown since 1840.
Bibliography
Jones, Harvie P. 1999. Architecture notebook 58: Madison County Courthouse, at Huntsville, Alabama. https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34689516.
Ryan, Patricia H. 2006. “The Second Madison County Courthouse.” The Historic Huntsville Quarterly, September 22, 2006, 20-27. https://louis.uah.edu/historic-huntsville-quarterly/vol32/iss3/5/.
Vaughn, F. Charles Jr. (1983) "George Steele: Architect and Builder of the Nineteenth Century," Huntsville Historical Review: Vol. 13: No. 1, Article 3. https://louis.uah.edu/huntsville-historical-review/vol13/iss1/3
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the UAH Honors College and UAH Salmon Library.
