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Property Features
Architect Frank Venning of Granger and Bollenbacher designed this handsome courthouse, which Winnebago County built in 1938 without federal funds. Nonetheless, the architectural style expressed here has come to be known as PWA Moderne (see OU07), for the Public Works Administration, the New Deal agency that built many public buildings in this style during the Great Depression.
The courthouse rises five stories, terminating with a terraced roofline; the penthouse once housed the jail. Only the shallow projection of the central pavilion interrupts the otherwise planar walls of Indiana limestone. Against these surfaces, windows form multi-story, multi-paned columns of glass. But whereas the walls and their columnar windows are smooth, the geometric surrounds framing the bronze doors at the entranceways are highly ornate. Alfonso Ianelli fashioned these bas-relief designs with references to Mayan art, depicting stylized images of Native Americans, families, agriculture, industry, and heads of county officials.
The richly detailed lobby, designed in the sleek manner of the Moderne, includes pale mauve Portuguese marble walls. Incised fluting defines the curved corners, and contrasting stripes of terrazzo line the floors. Bronze railings, elevator doors, and letterboxes heighten the interior’s splendor.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
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415 Jackson St.
82000736
Located in Oshkosh, Winnebago County
MENOMINEE PARK, 1200 MERRITT AVE
27333
Located in Oshkosh, Winnebago County
