Lexington County Courthouse – Lexington SC

Description

Construction of the Lexington County Courthouse during the 1930s was enabled by funds provided by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).

From the building’s National Register of Historic Places Registration Form:
“The Lexington County Courthouse is a two-story red brick and limestone building located at 139 East Main Street on the eastern end of the core commercial downtown area of the town of Lexington, South Carolina. Laid in a variation of American or common bond, it is bordered on the east by South Lake Drive, on the south by Maiden Lane, and by neighboring commercial buildings on the west, and it is situated on a 1. 78 acre lot with a large rear parking lot and front and side lawn. Constructed in 1939 according to plans by the Columbia architectural firm of Wessinger & Johnson [Jesse W . Wessinger and J. Carroll Johnson], and partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) of the New Deal, the courthouse’s design is classically-inspired and typical of the PWA Moderne or Modern Classic style. Its classically- referenced, monumental central pavilion is made more modern in appearance through the stylized ornamentation found in many public buildings built by the federal work relief programs of the 1930s . The courthouse is a local expression of what had become by 1939 federal architecture in both spirit and reality. Despite rear additions on either side of the large courtroom block of the building by one of its original architects in 1970, the building retains its 1939 design and, through its continuous use as a courthouse, a high degree of architectural integrity.”