WILKES-BARRE — The nooks and crannies of the Luzerne County Courthouse tell a story, local historian Tony Brooks told the approximately 20 people on his tour Tuesday.
“I will show you how this building is a history book of this area,” said Brooks, a Wilkes-Barre city councilman and chairman of the Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society.
After about a decade under Connecticut rule, Luzerne County was formed in 1786, said Brooks.
The first courthouses were on Public Square. Construction of the current courthouse — the county’s fourth — began in 1906 following two decades of controversy. Much of the disagreement involved the location because some wanted the building to remain on Public Square, while others wanted it on South Main Street, Brooks said.
Prevailing were those who wanted to build a grand structure along the Susquehanna River away from the “hustle and bustle,” he said. The building opened in 1909.
Standing in the rotunda, Brooks gestured at the marble, artwork, stained glass and brass fixtures. There is even gold trim around the dome, he said. The courthouse project was estimated to cost $600,000 but ended up at $2 million, or about $50 million in today’s dollars.
“We were rolling in dough when this place was built,” Brooks said, in reference to the coal mining industry. “We were heating America and had the tax money to support this.”
Brooks applauded the foresight to include local native George Catlin, a celebrated painter, among the four portraits on the dome along with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.
He pointed out some of the 56 portraits painted by the Italian-born Vincent Aderente on the vaulted ceilings of the building’s hallways. Surrounded by mosaic, the portraits show the likenesses of dignitaries and other movers and shakers in county history.
Brooks paused at a portrait of Matthias Hollenback, saying he was the wealthiest man in the area when he died in 1829 because he “gobbled up” vast land holdings and operated many stores.
“He was the Al Boscov of his day,” Brooks said.
A large portrait near the tax claim office features the county’s namesake, Chevalier de la Luzerne, France’s first ambassador to the United States.
‘Pride in place’
The group marveled at the original sconces, ceiling, carved tables, marble and wood fireplaces and chandelier in the law library, which Brooks described as “really grand.”
Inside a courtroom, he explained the symbolism of a painting called “Prosperity under the Law,” which was one of several commissioned art pieces that cost $5,000 each in 1909, he said. It celebrated local mining, agriculture and the Susquehanna.
“Pride in place makes this place comfortable to live in,” Brooks said. “It makes you really bind to the land you come from.”
A project to repair water-damaged plaster and artwork inside the dome will be bid out in May, said county Manager C. David Pedri. Marble stained orange from smoking inside the building years ago also will be cleaned.
Scaffolding will be erected in the rotunda and remain there for months during the work, Pedri said.
The project will be funded by a $100,000 state gaming allocation, a $475,000 settlement from an exterior restoration contractor over dome leaks, and approximately $800,000 in past-borrowed capital funds earmarked by the council.
“We have to take pride in this building,” said Pedri.
Nanticoke resident Jennifer Domzalski went on the tour and said she attends many similar events to learn about the people and places that shaped the area.
“Many don’t realize how rich in history this area actually is,” Domzalski said.
Another attendee, Brian Shiner, of Kingston, said he often admires the artwork when he’s at the courthouse attending county government meetings. He was intrigued to learn the three-commissioner form of government was in place for 225 years before the January 2012 switch to a customized home rule structure. With that perspective, he believes more time should pass before any significant changes to home rule are considered.
The courthouse tour was organized as part of the events for County Government Month.
