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Weld County Court House -
901 9TH AV
 Print Listing
Historical Name -
Weld County Court House
Style -
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Classical Revival
Built Year -
1915-1917
State ID -
5WL567
Description -
This Classical Revival style courthouse is a rectangular, four story limestone and marble structure with a basement, an attic and a flat roof. The building contains 25,000 square feet. The exterior walls and columns are limestone and terra cotta. The east elevation is the main facade, which has a second floor balcony. Eight columns with Ionic capitals and triangular pediments and eight pilasters behind them stretch across the east elevation, reaching from the second story to the top of the fourth story. There are two triangular pediments with two partial columns (not included in the eight mentioned above) under each one, with simplified capitals (with the same decoration as the Ionic capitals except the scrolls). There is a cornice-line balustrade around the entire roof, with decorative detailing. The cornice has brackets above a frieze with dentil molding at the base of the brackets. The east elevation also includes a large clock surrounded by limestone, topped by a flagpole. The words “WELD COUNTY COURT HOUSE” are printed in block gothic lettering in the frieze below the cornice on the east elevation. Four Ionic pilasters are located above the north and south elevation entrances. The main entrance, located on the east elevation, has eleven arched openings, including three arches in the center providing access to the recessed entrance (the three bronze and glass doors), and eight arches (in four pairs) over windows. The windows on the east elevation include arched windows on the first story and multi-light rectangular windows on the second, third and fourth stories. The same windows are found on the north, south and west elevations. Windows on the west elevation also include nine leaded, stained glass windows and thirty-four arched and rectangular windows.
Historical Background -
The county seat of Weld County was a controversial topic in the beginning of Greeley’s history. The original county seat was St. Vrain, from 1861-1868. It changed several more times over the next ten years, locating in Latham from 1869-1870 next. Greeley and Evans soon became involved in a feud as to the location of the county seat. “Due to a combination of office space and land availabilities, various petitions, ballot box battles, and the kidnapping of records, the county officially and successively sat in: Evans 1870-1874 (at which time the county population was approximately 1500), Greeley 1874-1875, Evans 1875-1877 and finally and permanently in Greeley in 1877.” Weld County purchased Lots 1-8 of Block 65, on which the Courthouse stands, from the Union Colony in 1874, when Greeley temporarily became the county seat. The first courthouse in Greeley was constructed in 1883 of brick, but the county outgrew it by 1914, and construction on the existing courthouse was started in 1915 and completed in 1917. The building, at a cost of $414,000, was completely paid for when it was dedicated on July 4, 1917. County and District Courts still occupy the courthouse.
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