====== Courthouse (BE 143) ======
The original [[Boone County]] Courthouse was a log building. It was used for sixteen years, when it was replaced in [[1817]] by a large brick structure. The new building featured brick columns and floors, and measured 30 by 40 feet. It was remodeled several times, before being eventually destroyed by a fire.
Boone County's third, and current, courthouse was built on Washington Street in [[Burlington]] in [[1889]]. It cost $20,000 at that time. This would be approximately $459,000 today. Although the courthouse's builder remains unknown, the building was designed by the firm of McDonald Brothers, prolific builders of county courthouses in Kentucky and the Southeast during the [[1880s]]. A nearly identical design appears in a 1903 brochure for McDonald & Sheblessy Architects, successors to the firm.
The current courthouse is a Renaissance Revival brick edifice, cruciform in plan, with subsidiary blocks in the four angles. The exterior walls are articulated by pilasters and a deep cornice; rusticated brickwork lends depth and visual interest. The facades are dominated by central, pedimented pavilions, and a Doric porch shelters the entrance. The steeply hipped roof is crowned by an open, octagonal cupola. A lower brick wing was added to the east elevation about 1960. The courthouse was included in the Burlington Historic District, which was added to the [[National Register]] in 1979.
==== References ====
* Elizabeth H. Garr, //History of Kentucky Courthouses// (National Society of Colonial Dames, 1972), p. 27-28.
* //Kentucky Courthouses//, ed. John W. Carpenter (London: JM Publications, 1988), p. 30-31.
===== More Information =====
* "[[The Old Boone County Courthouse]]" - By Matthew E. Becher
* "[[The Names in the Bell Tower]]" - by Harold McFarland
* Doyon, Ann Marie. //Kentucky's Traditional Courthouses// (2009)
==== Related websites ====
* National Register Information (PDFs), [[https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=f587918d-3eaf-4840-b3ed-c6716bf39303|inventory form and photos]]
===== Related Topics =====
* [[Government]]
* [[Historic buildings]]
* [[burlington_historic_district|Burlington Historic District]]