THE LEGACY OF THE CLASSICAL IDEAL IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH:

A “TEMPLVM IVSTITIAE”

A Terminal Design Project

Submitted to the School of Architecture

Of the University of Notre Dame

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Master of Architecture

by

Jeff Charles Goolsby

_________________________________

Duncan Stroik, Critic

_________________________________

Philip Bess, Director

Graduate Program in Architecture

Notre Dame, Indiana

May 2009

DEDICATION:

To my grandmother: Alana J. Goolsby

“She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She girds herself with strength And makes her arms strong.

She senses that her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out at night.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES………….………………………………………………………... 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………….……………………………………………….. 4

THESIS ………………………………………………………………...…………...…. 6

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Watercolor Rendering, Site Locator Figure 2: Natural Context Figure 3: Urban Context Figure 4: Current Site Figure 5: Proposed Site Figure 6: Street Pattern Figure 7: Site Section, Site Views Figure 8: Early Concepts, Sketches Figure 9: Elevations, Sections Figure 10: Floor Plans Figure 11: Ground Floor Figure 12: Second Floor Figure 13: Third Floor Figure 14: Building Use Diagram Figure 15: Security Zone Diagram

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first like to thank my critic, Professor Duncan Stroik, without whom this

would have been impossible. Always good natured, and abidingly upbeat, Professor

Stroik’s passion to the cause of Classicism and dedication to The Church are a constant

encouragement. Secondly, I would like to thank Professor Thomas Gordon Smith: a man

whose steadfast devotion to the arts and beauty, and to the mysteries that lie therein, are

second to none. His resolute commitment to sow and cultivate the forgotten seeds of the

classical movement amid the fallow grounds of general cultural apathy, and against the

plagues of modernist cynicism, has yielded already, an immeasurable harvest. Thank you

both.

I would also like to thank the other professors and facilitators at the School of

Architecture whose seemingly tireless devotion to the students at Bond Hall frequently

goes beyond their call of duty. I would like to especially thank: Fr. Bullene, Norman

Crowe, Alan DeFrees, Dennis Doordan, Richard Economakis, David Mayernik, Thomas

Norman Rajkovich, Ingrid Rowland, Steven S. Semes, John Stamper, and Carroll

William Westfall. I am also indebted to professors from Charleston: Ralph Muldrow,

and Robert Russell, and Gene Waddell. Lastly, I would like to thank my graduate

advisor, Philip Bess, and the Dean of the School of Architecture, Michael Lykoudis.

Their strong commitments to the standards of the University are unwavering.

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THESIS There is one universal law that has been formed, or at least adopted...by the majority of mankind. That law is justice. Justice forms the cornerstone of each nation's law. -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America American architecture embodies the ideals of democracy for which our revolution

was fought and our Constitution created. -Allan Greenberg, Architecture of Democracy

But how is a taste in this beautiful art to be formed in our countrymen, unless we avail ourselves of every occasion when public buildings are to be erected, of presenting to them models for their study and imitation? -Thomas Jefferson writing to James Madison Modernism has not developed a language; it lacks a vocabulary to differentiate civic, domestic, business, and industrial buildings. There is no coherent theory of characters, symbols, types, signs, of form, of scale or proportions. -Leon Krier, Architecture, Choice or Fate

Classicism has long been used for the most important buildings in the Western

world. Its tectonic, philosophical, and artistic meanings help reveal who we are as a

people. The classical refers to the best, but it is not static; it has been adapted throughout

time and place to respond to the movements and ideas of our civilization. In America,

from its first days, there developed a unique expression of classicism that helped

communicate, celebrate, and commemorate the distinctive ideas and ideals of its people.

This is especially true in the Southern United States, where a fine tradition of American

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classicism was established early on; not only to express specific ideas about democracy,

but also to physically signify and distinguish the importance of public buildings within

the civic realm.

The courthouse is an icon of American civic life. It manifests a well-ordered,

self-governing civilization, embracing levels of government from national to local. At

the county level it is a place for local justice, and often also county government. It is a

gathering place and forum, and it is commonly the center of the town and countryside.

The courthouse is one of the most pervasive types of government building in the country,

and hence it is frequently the most important and easily identifiable landmark in

thousands of communities. The American courthouse, as one of the community’s most

important buildings, is a symbol of the community’s highest values.

This terminal design project proposes a new county courthouse for Transylvania

County, in Brevard, North Carolina, which uses the principals of classicism in its design

(as opposed to those of modernism, or ways of the vernacular), to best exemplify justice

through law in our American Democracy, and to promote civic gravitas and decorum and

in a traditional town in Western North Carolina.

Transylvania County is a wealthy resort and retirement community of

approximately 30,000 people. About 25 miles southwest of Asheville, North Carolina,

one-third of the county is protected U.S. National Forest, land, which was originally part

of George Washington Vanderbilt’s 100,000 acre Biltmore Estate. Its geographic

features include 6,000ft mountains, lakes, a broad, cultivated river valley, and over 250

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waterfalls (see fig 2).

The City of Brevard, nestled in the center of the Transylvania County, is a

medium-sized town of brick, stone, and wooden buildings, and has been prominently

featured as the number one retirement community in America. Its tree-lined downtown

sits atop a gentle ridge and enjoys pleasant views of the mountainous surroundings (see

fig. 3).

The existing Transylvania County Courthouse is a simple, yet dignified, brick

building constructed in 1881. Now a local landmark, the structure has an almost frontier-

like simplicity with vaguely Italianate and Second-Empire features. The small complex

sits in a park-like setting, set slightly back and up from the street at the corner of the

town’s main intersection, Main Street and Broad.. As one of the oldest and most

cherished buildings in the county, the Transylvania County Courthouse has become the

symbolic heart of this traditional, Southern, American community (see fig. 4).

Currently, the courthouse has reached capacity and the county management has

begun to look at ways to expand the facilities. In the past, as the courthouse needed to

grow, successive additions were simply added to the original structure; however, the

current expansion plans, which include the addition of two new courtrooms and expanded

office space, would require an addition that would begin to dominate the crowded and

historic site. The convenient answer for many communities in similar situations today is

the erection of an inexpensive building on a highway site outside of town. While this

solution provides a low-cost, quick-fix for current growing pains, this option sets up the

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undercurrents that eventually erode the very soul of the traditional community. The

solution proposed by this thesis is one that aims to add to the town rather than draw away

from it.

While a new building on the outskirts of town would be clearly detrimental to the

civic character of the community, a new building at same location as the current

courthouse would likewise be problematic. Today, the current courthouse building is

great because it is a prominent clear symbol of where the court and center of local county

government is located. Unfortunately, the current site, while perfectly at the center of its

county-seat, has reached a point of saturation whereby any further additions, and

especially large ones, would begin to confuse the site by creating a dichotomy between

any new courthouse building and the historic one. A collage of mismatched courthouse

buildings at the historical center of town endangers hierarchal civic clarity is not an

acceptable long-term solution for any community. Thus, this thesis proposes a new site

for the anticipated courthouse at a different location within the downtown area.

Though building at the center of town is not a viable option, it is of high-

important that the new Transylvania County Courthouse be located on a site that is just as

central and visible as the current one to ensure that it continues to be a recognizable and

beloved symbol of the community. With these things in mind, the new site must be

dignified, prominent, close to the center of downtown, and offer many positive features.

Thus, the proposed location for the new county courthouse is a two-block area on West

Main Street, at Oaklawn Avenue, a quarter-mile west of the current courthouse at a point

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where the core of downtown could be extended. The area is quite, clean, neighborly,

relatively flat, a five-minute walk from the center of town (see fig. 5).

This proposed site is both innovative and traditional. It calls for the formation of

two new city blocks located in the middle of what is currently West Main Street between

the old railroad right-of-way and England Street. The new courthouse will be the

terminating the view of West Main Street and will overlook a new town green with

Kagle Mountain, Cedar Rock Mountain, and Chestnut Knob rising majestically in the

western sky behind (see fig. 4). To eliminate additional surface parking downtown there

is also a new parking structure beneath the new town green. This solution fulfills the as

yet unrealized plan of the town’s founding fathers for a central town green. A town green

is an almost exclusively American urban manifestation which harkens back to our

country’s deep belief in the sacredness and ownership of land.

The design for the building was inspired by the ideas of justice, civility, and

tradition. It was determined early in the design process that the Transylvania County

Courthouse ought to be a building that is familiar, American, and Southern. Towards this

goal, historical precedence was the first element to be considered. To design a great

building, one must know what has come before.

Fortunately, there are many fine classical courthouses and civic buildings in

Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina especially from the time of the Early

Republic. The work of Thomas Jefferson, William Strickland, A.J. Davis, and Robert

Mills, among others was helpful in determining what constituted great Southern

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American civic architecture.

During the Early Republican era a very popular form for courthouses was a

single-room type articulated as a Greek or Roman Temple. Gracious and powerful, the

temple form was originally introduced by Thomas Jefferson with the Virginia Statehouse.

This form was of great interest to his followers, and was used for many civic buildings

and courthouses across the country as a symbol of American Democracy. Unfortunately,

the temple model can be somewhat unforgiving when trying to accommodate a

complicated program or when it comes time to expand the building.

Frequently, when architects have added to the temple form they add wings to

either side, extending the cornice and main entablature to the secondary massing. While

this provides additional space for planning a building, it takes away from the clarity of

the original temple form. One temple model that avoids this problem is the Supreme

Court Building by Cass Gilbert, 1933. Here, Gilbert retains the prominence and clarity of

the temple form by simply lowering the secondary office wings below the main cornice

line.

This design for the Transylvania County Courthouse applies Gilbert’s

compositional strategy to the scale of the county courthouse, with the spirit of the original

one-room temple courthouses, and the character and language of Greek precedents. The

Greek revival in America lasted from the 1820’s until the 1860’s was this country’s first

true unified architectural style and came to embody the spirit of the young nation.

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Programmatically, courthouses today are highly complex in terms of security and

circulation. By far one of the greatest challenges to overcome in this project was creating

a successful parti that efficiently allowed both public and private access to three

courtrooms while segregating, jurors, judges, accused, witnesses, and general public from

each other as mandated by law, and while allowing the exterior expression of a temple

type. (see fig. 14).

The proposed Transylvania County Courthouse is divided into public and private

zones. The entire ground floor and the front portion of the 3rd floor are county

government areas and are completely public; here the citizen may pass freely without

going through any kind of security point. The rest of the courthouse: the entire second

floor and the back of the 3rd floor are areas dedicated to the North Carolina Court System

and are secure zones (see fig. 15).

There are three courtrooms on the main level, connected by two hallways, a

public hallway in the front and a private one in the rear. The clerk of court and District

Attorney’s office, judge’s offices, and The Hall of the People are also on the main level.

The Hall of the People is a type of room that appears in many American civic buildings

and is a memorial and reminder that, “We the People”, are the foundation of American

Government (see fig. 12).

After the Hall of the People, the central Main Courtroom is the most important

space in the building and again draws inspiration from the one-room courtrooms of the

south and also from the Supreme Court Building in Washington. In ancient temples this

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central area would be known as a cella, but here instead of a room that is dedicated to

pagan deity this space is dedicated to Justice.

The Main Courtroom is a double height space in a Greek Doric order with a flat

coffered ceiling and a dome. The dome allows natural light to come in and evokes the

sky. A perfect circle can be inscribed in the space from the inside of the walls, from the

bottom of the floor to the height of the dome. Diffused natural light also enters through

clerestory windows. The plan of the room is a square and in the center above the judge’s

bench is a caryatid image of justice (see fig. 9).

Other important spaces in the building include the County Hall, on the first level,

which is a multi-purpose community space for hosting lectures, fund-raising or other

county meetings, the front and rear porticos, and the law library on the third level.

The Transylvania County Courthouse is a Temple of Justice. It is the legacy of

the classical ideal in the American South handed down by our founding fathers who

believed that justice was sacred. Through architectural forms and ornament, our civic

buildings help us celebrate our traditions, ideals, values and our American Democracy.

In America, just as we hold justice as a cornerstone of our democracy, we ought to lay

down a true corner stone to the erection of edifices that house our most sacred of

institutions.

"Justice is the fundamental law of society." --Thomas Jefferson

to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1816

13Fig. 1

14Fig. 2

15Fig. 3

16Fig. 4

17Fig. 5

18Fig. 6

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20Fig. 8

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24Fig. 12

25Fig. 13

26Fig. 14

27 Fig. 15