Old Warren County Courthouse Complex
The Old Warren County Courthouse Complex is a former Courthouse at the intersection of Amherst Street and Canada Street (U.S. 9/NY 9N), Lake George, New York. The large building of brick was built between the 1840s and 1890s in five stages. Not all of these construction phases are still present.
The impressive clock tower has become a dominant feature in the Village. The administration of Warren counties involved in the 1960s a new building. After the building remained vacant one years, managed local preservationists to achieve the re-opening of the building to other public purposes. In 1973 it was included in the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is the seat of the local historical society and a local art association.
Estate
The complex is located on a small parcel of land that extends from the street to the shore of Lake George and its area is less than one acre. All the buildings on it are interconnected. Your load-bearing exterior walls have a brick facade and sit on a base of limestone. The polychrome slate roof is pierced by six fireplaces. The three remaining parts of works are from west to east, the office of the judge, the original Courthouse and the prison wing.
The western facade of the building - the front page - has two floors and comprises five yokes. The two-story clock tower sits in the center and rises above the main entrance whose doors are back in an open archway. Double stone tablets of the input and COURT HOUSE is located between two floors, with the inscription WARREN COUNTY left to the right. A decorative brick cornice at the eaves is repeated at the top of the clock tower. The roofs of the front part of the building complex and the clock tower are hipped roofs. The roof of the clock tower is topped by a weather vane.
East of it agrees with the original building of the Court House. It is one and a half stories high and consists of three bays on each side. Pilaster separate the narrow window from each other and the roof is suspended by a respective roof dormer, that are arranged on both sides in the middle of the roof surface. The wing of the prison and then follows is the lake the next. This part of the building is a two-story wing with a gable roof, comprises four bays in length and three in width. The construction of this part of the building is unusual; the ground floor is not divided and there are no pillars. The upper floor is supported by three steel posts that are hung from beams under the roof.
Inside since the construction has seen many changes, so that most of the architectural features was lost from that time. Get the original windows and high ceilings, and in prison wing some of the original cells are still preserved.
History
Lake George 1813 intended for the county seat, as the Warren County was founded. At that time the settlement grew quickly because it was due to the expected main trade route to Canada. At that time the place was called still Caldwell after James Caldwell of Albany, a landowner and businessman. In the first four years of existence of the county, the court met in a local cafe; only after 1815, Caldwell had placed a piece of land to build the Courthouses available, one was built, including the Office of the Countyvorsteher and the prison.
Little is known about the architecture of this building. Records of the county suggest that the former Courthouse had a wooden dome roof, which had to be renewed regularly. This meant that the Countyverwaltung had difficulties to insure the building. The courthouse and the office building of the Countyvorstehers burned down in 1843. An architect from Glens Falls, Winfield Sherwood, designed a new building, which was completed two years later. This new building today forms the central part of the building complex. It is said that Stephen A. Douglas held during the election campaign of the presidential election in the United States 1860, a speech against Abraham Lincoln.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Courthouse has been extended several times, first in 1878 by the construction of quarters for the judges and the building received its distinctive clock tower. Seven years later, in 1885, the small office section of the Countyschriftführers was replaced by a larger building. This wing was built in front of the wing for the judges, which led to criticism because of the impact on the overall look of the building.
The city of directors of the county met here until 1905 or in Glens Falls, then a conference room above the office of Countyschriftführers has been added. Since 1860, there had been efforts to relocate the county seat to Glens Falls, since this place had become greater now because of industrialization. The Countyverwaltung moved some offices there and, however, some further north to Warrensburg, Lake George remained the county seat.
The voters in the county approved in 1959 the inclusion of a bond to build a new administration complex in Queensbury, a few kilometers further south on Route 9 This was completed in 1963 and put into operation and the old buildings were abandoned. Thereafter, it is not used for several years and the demolition of the building, it was considered that the newly formed Lake George Historical Association was the Town of Lake George, which was then owned the building in the property, convince to it for use as offices of the Association and as a historical to use Museum. Shortly thereafter, in 1969, who built in 1885 stem was broken off, so the building was returned to its original front. The Lake George Arts Center opened in 1977 in the former courtroom gallery and also took the seat in the former Courthouse.