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West Virginia » Northern Panhandle » Wheeling and Ohio County » Wheeling » Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall

Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall

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1960, Frederic Faris the younger. East side of Chapline St. between 15th and 16th sts.
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall (Michelle Krone)
  • Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall (Michelle Krone)
  • Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall (Michelle Krone)
  • Ohio County Courthouse and Wheeling City Hall (Michelle Krone)

This dual-purpose government building replaces the 1870s structure, erected as the state capitol, which served from 1885 until 1956 as the City-County Building. Faced with orange brick with striated stone spandrels that define the vertical bands of fenestration, the building consists of two rectangular blocks: a tall fivestory section to the north and a low two-story section to the south. A brutally plain one-story portico sheathed in polished granite shelters the entrance where the two sections join. Perhaps the building will become meaningful over time, but knowing what it replaced makes its uncompromising lines seem an architectural slap in the old capitol's face.

Writing Credits

Author: 
S. Allen Chambers Jr.

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