This, the third Clarion County Courthouse, was the first of a trio of Pennsylvania county courthouses designed by Kauffman and Butz; the others are in Westmoreland (
WE1) and Fayette (
FA1) counties. Here, a straightforward, hipped-roof brick rectangle of three-and-one-half stories is aggrandized by the addition of a 213-foot-high square clock tower with a spire on the south facade. There are small carved stone balconies on each face of the tower surmounted by an iron statue of Justice holding a sword and the scales of justice. Hipped-roof dormers pierce the roofline above three-bay projections on the east and west elevations. Stone foundation and sill and lintel courses unify the brick building. On the interior, a central hall is flanked by offices to the east and west. A double stair at the south entrance leads to the large courtroom on the second story, and a second, smaller courtroom is on the third story.
Clarion County Courthouse
1883–1885, William Kauffman and Edward M. Butz and Co., with Daniel English, supervising architect; 1947, Tillman Scheeren Jr. 1980, Landmark Design Associates, Ellis Schmidlapp, project architect. 421 Main St.