Overall Dimensions. The restored, original courthouse building is a plain rectangle, 61 feet long by 32 feet wide. It is oriented with the long sides facing north and south, with the main entrance at the east end of the building. A portico extends across the entire east end of the building, covering an area 12 by 32 feet. The height of the building at the gable ends is 32 feet; and the height of the eaves from the ground is 21 feet.
Foundations. As originally built, the courthouse rested on brick foundation walls, anchored at the corners in brick piers, with a crawl space of approximately 11/2 to 2 feet in height beneath all but the front (east) quarter of the floor space. Additional brick bases, approximately 18 inches square and resting on the ground, were located in the crawl space beneath the two columns supporting the courthouse balcony. In the late nineteenth century, a partial basement was dug beneath the central section of the courtroom.[171]
As reconstructed, the exterior foundation walls were pointed up and repaired, and were strengthened by the addition of several new footings. Across the back (west end) of the building, the crawl space was deepened to a uniform 3 feet, and four 12 × 12 inch brick piers were placed on concrete footings. In the center section of the courthouse, the basement walls were extended 1 foot to carry the joists of the new floor, the outside entrance was closed up, and a new staircase for the interior entrance was built at the south end of the basement. Next to the basement toward the front (east end) of the building, another crawl space (measuring 81/2 × 251/2 feet) was deepened to a uniform 3 feet, and a new wall was built on the east side, extending the full width of the building. This new wall was 8 inches thick, and constructed of cinder block and brick, anchored with 16 × 16 × 12 inch concrete footings. Beneath both crawl spaces and the basement a 3-inch thick concrete slab was laid. The crawl space did not extend to the front exterior wall of the building. A space of 13 × 30 feet across the front of the building, consisting of the area beneath the open entrance foyer of the courtroom, originally had been covered only by a layer of bricks resting on the bare ground. As reconstructed, this brick was taken up and re-laid on a 4-inch thick slab of concrete which had been poured on a base of 4 inches of crushed stone covered by polyethylene film.
Walls. The exterior walls of the courthouse are constructed of red brick, with new bricks specially selected during the 1967 restoration to match the remaining original materials, and laid in Flemish bond, 11/2 feet thick. Across the front of the building, the portico is entered through a series of arches supporting the second-floor front section of the building. The three arches across the front of the building are 7 feet wide and 11 feet high at the center of the arch. The arches at the north and south ends of the portico are 61/2 feet wide by 11 feet high. The brick columns supporting the arches are 11/2 feet square. The arches and columns are plain except for white marble keystones and white marble slabs, 6 inches thick, placed at the foot of each arch and serving as bases for the columns.
Chimneys. All five of the chimneys which the courthouse had in the early nineteenth century were retained in the reconstruction. The two chimneys on each of the north and south sides stand at points which correspond to the four corners of the courtroom, and rise 111/2 feet above the roofline at the eaves. In the center of the table end at the front of the building, the fifth chimney stands, extending 5 feet above the ridge of the roof. All five chimneys are corbelled with two courses of brick at the top, and with a single course of brick 11/2 feet below the chimney top. All of the chimneys measure 2 feet by 1 foot 9 inches.
Doors and Windows. In the 1967 reconstruction of the courthouse, the fenestration was changed to resemble the appearance of the building in about 1861. Accordingly the three tall (141/2 foot) existing windows on the north and south sides of the building were converted into two sets of smaller windows, one above the other, and regularly spaced along the sides of the courtroom. In the upper row, a fourth window was located over the arch in the portico, and serves the rooms in the second-floor chamber at the front of the building. The chamber also has two windows on the front of the building.
The upper row windows are of a double-hung sash design, with 12 over 8 panes (9 inches × 103/4 inches) set in wooden frames and sills. Overall dimensions of these windows are 4 × 51/2 feet. The three windows on the lower level are slightly larger—4 feet × 6 feet 9 inches, and have 12 over 12 panes. Both rows of windows are shuttered; those of the upper row are louvred, and those in the lower row have solid panels.[172]
On the ground level at the front of the building, the main doorway of the courthouse is located in the center of the wall, and flanked by one window on each side. The door is panelled, and 81/2 × 41/2 feet in size.
In the reconstruction, new window sashes and a new door were installed, but the existing jambs were used wherever possible. All shutters, glazing materials and hardware used in the reconstruction were new.
Roof. The original roof of the courthouse was covered with slate shingles, and the reconstruction of the building merely applied repairs to these shingles as needed. Little of the slate which remained in 1967 was thought to have dated from the original construction, however, because of the extensive repairs and renovations carried out after the Civil War.