Aiken Sites

Formerly known as the Aiken Federal Court House, this PWA structure exemplifies the Georgian Revival style popular in the South in the 1920s and '30s. The National Register describes the building's history: "Constructed in 1935, the steel-framed building has housed the federal courts and federal agencies since its completion. It is among the most notable buildings constructed in Aiken in the 1930s, and retains must of its historic integrity and design character. The building also contains a ca. 1938 mural titled "Justice as Protector and Avenger" commissioned under the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury Department that...

The courthouse contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by Stefan Hirsch entitled “Justice as Protector and Avenger.” During the 1930s, this mural sparked an intensely racialized controversy: "The central female figure is a reference to the Renaissance Virtue Justice—familiar to us all because she is regularly deployed in courthouses around the world. But the WPA artist explained that his 'figure of "Justice"' was 'without any of the customary . . . symbolic representations (scale, sword, book . . .).' He said that the only 'allegory' he had permitted himself was 'to use the red, white and blue for...