Berks County Courthouse, [Reading, Pa.] [graphic] / Tho. U. Walter, archt., Philadelphia.

Format:

Image

Author/Creator:

Walter, Thomas Ustick, 1804-1887.

Contributor:

Rush, James.

Visual Materials Collection (Athenaeum of Philadelphia)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Courthouses--Pennsylvania--Reading.

6th & Court Sts. (Reading, Pa.).

Berks County Courthouse (Reading, Pa.).

Liberty (Statue).

Local Subjects:

6th & Court Sts. (Reading, Pa.).

Berks County Courthouse (Reading, Pa.).

Liberty (Statue).

Physical Description:

1 drawing : ink & wash on paper ; 67 x 52 cm.

Contained In:

Walter, Thomas Ustick. Architectural drawings collection.

Place of Publication:

1839.

Notes:

This building and the statue "Liberty" atop the cupola, have been well documented by Dunkelberger's "Berks County Court Houses" in Historical review of Berks County. v, 17, no. 1, Oct.-Dec. 1951, and Richards "A Goddess in retirement" in Transactions of the Historical Society of Berks County, Sept. 1910. The court house was built at the site at Sixth and Court Streets in Reading, and completed after Dec. 1842. It was demolished in 1931. The statue of the Goddess of Liberty was carved by James Rush from Walter's own drawing, which had originally been proposed for the Philadelphia Court House. The statue was taken down in 1897, placed in the local museum and replaced by a hollow copper statue of Librerty. The tower clock was made by Benjamin Hill of Kutztown, and placed there in Oct. 1841, but was replaced in 1851. An earlier Berks County Court House dated from 1762 and was demolished in 1841. A later court house was built on the site of the Walter court house, by architects William Dechant Sons of Reading, completed in 1932.

Forms part of: Walter, Thomas Ustick. Architectural drawings collection.

Cited in:

Laverty, v.1, p.231, WTU*025/001