Bay County Courthouse (Florida)

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Bay County Courthouse
PC Bay Cnty crths01.jpg
Bay County Courthouse
General information
Architectural style Classical Revival
Town or city Panama City, Florida
Country United States
Completed1915, rebuilt after 1920 fire
Cost$
ClientBay County
Design and construction
EngineerBuilder:

The Bay County Courthouse is an historic yellow brick courthouse building located at 300 East 4th Street in Panama City, Florida. Built in 1915 in the Classical Revival style, it is Bay County's first and only courthouse. After a 1920 fire gutted the building, it was rebuilt in a much simpler form without its entrance pediment, gabled roof system and ornate central clock tower. The entrance columns and entablature, however, were retained. Later additions have been built on its left side. [1] [2]

Brick Block or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry construction

A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote any rectangular units laid in mortar. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks.

Courthouse building which is home to a court

A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply called "courts" or "court buildings". In most of Continental Europe and former non-English-speaking European colonies, the equivalent term is a palace of justice.

Panama City, Florida City in Florida

Panama City is a city and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98, it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated of two principal cities of the Panama City-Lynn Haven, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,484. The city was extensively damaged when Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on October 10, 2018.

Gideon v. Wainwright historic marker on courthouse grounds PC Bay Cnty crths plaque01.jpg
Gideon v. Wainwright historic marker on courthouse grounds

In August 1961 the Bay County Courthouse was the scene of the trial and conviction of Clarence Earl Gideon for felony theft. The court's refusal to provide Gideon with legal representation was overturned in the famous U. S. Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright. Gideon was retried here in August 1963 and was acquitted. [2]

Clarence Earl Gideon American robber

Clarence Earl Gideon was a poor drifter and amateur attorney accused in a Florida state court of felony theft. His case resulted in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright, holding that a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire a lawyer must be provided one at no cost.

Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In it, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own attorneys. The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by imposing those requirements upon the states as well.

In 1989, the Bay County Courthouse was listed in A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, published by the University of Florida Press. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, 1989, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, p. 13, ISBN   0-8130-0941-3
  2. 1 2 Florida's Historic Courthouses: Bay County Courthouse

Coordinates: 30°09′19″N85°39′28″W / 30.1552°N 85.65786°W / 30.1552; -85.65786

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.