Courthouse Place

Landmark Context

Courthouse Place is anchored to 54 W Hubbard St before any deeper archive work begins. The current city data lists it as dating to a construction date of 1893 and credits Otto H. Matz. It was designated on June 9, 1993. Courthouse Place can be read through domestic design, residential development, and block-by-block neighborhood change without losing sight of the actual site.

Courthouse Place gains definition in the field when attention concentrates on lot width, setbacks, porches, bays, and rooflines, the rhythm between neighboring houses, and alterations that show changing domestic use. That kind of fieldwork helps clarify how one domestic building can still clarify the growth of an entire residential block.

Research Starting Points

Courthouse Place starts to deepen once research reaches real-estate atlases and fire insurance maps, permit files and census or directory material, and historic photographs and neighborhood histories. Those materials are usually what turn site observation into a more convincing historical record.

Courthouse Place gives later fieldwork and archives a stable site to keep circling back to.