Lyon County Courthouse (Iowa)

Lyon County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Lyon County Courthouse
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Location	3rd and Story Sts. Rock Rapids, Iowa
Coordinates	43°25′48″N96°10′02″W / 43.43000°N 96.16722°W / 43.43000; -96.16722 Coordinates: 43°25′48″N96°10′02″W / 43.43000°N 96.16722°W / 43.43000; -96.16722
Area	less than one acre
Built	1916-1917
Built by	Amwold Construction
Architect	Joseph Schwartz
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
MPS	County Courthouses in Iowa TR
NRHP reference No.	79000913 [1]
Added to NRHP	October 1, 1979

The Lyon County Courthouse is located in Rock Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The courthouse is the second building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

History

Lyon County was organized in 1872, and county business was done in the private homes of county officials in Beloit. In 1873 Rock Rapids was chosen as the county seat because of its central location, and the first courthouse was erected in 1875. It was a three-story frame structure with a hipped roof and bracketed eaves. The building was moved a few blocks away and became an apartment building after it was stuccoed and painted green. ^[2] The present courthouse was begun in 1916 and was completed the following year for $109,695.13. ^[3]

Architecture

The courthouse was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Sioux Falls architect Joseph Schwartz. The main facade has a loggia in the center that features eight columns from the second floor to the top of the third floor with recessed windows in between. The cornice runs below the wide band along the roofline, which is flat. The Bedford stone clad building measures approximately 110 by 71 feet (34 by 22 m) and is 52 feet (16 m) high. ^[4] A lion couchant is located above the main entrance, and is a play on the county's name Lyon. ^[2] The central rotunda on the interior features an art glass skylight dome and the county seal in a mosaic of ceramic tile on the floor. Wainscoting in the main staircases and corridors is Italian marble. Four murals on the third floor are named Pioneer, Immigrant, Rock Rapids 1873, and Modern Farm 1917. They are possibly the work of William Peaco, who has similar murals in the Greene County Courthouse in Jefferson. ^[2]

In 2018, four murals depicting the settlement of Rock Rapids by William Peaco were restored by John Canning & Co., an architectural arts restoration contractor out of Cheshire, Connecticut. Canning assessed and documented the existing conditions of the murals, then removed each from its position of the north, south, east, and west walls of the rotunda. The murals were then conserved and reinstated in the rotunda upon the completion of a larger construction project that included extensive structural renovations both within and outside of the building. ^[5]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Nadine Pettengill. "Lyon County Courthouse". National Park Service . Retrieved 2015-12-29. with photos
3. Stanek, Edward and Jacqueline (1976). Iowa's Magnificent County Courthouses. Des Moines: Wallace-Homestead. p. 126. ISBN   0-87069-189-9.
4. "Lyon County Courthouse". Iowa Judicial Branch. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
5. "Lyon County Courthouse". John Canning & Co. Retrieved March 6, 2023.