Courthouse Divides: Pt. I

        Perhaps nowhere more starkly do perceptions on architecture conflict than in our public spheres.  Consider, for example, all of the recent brouhaha over the Washington Mall.  MLK’s monument had to be “corrected” to delete the supposedly arrogant “I was a drum major” quote.  Plans for Eisenhower’s memorial have been criticized harshly, resulting in some to call for the outright revamp of the plans.

                It is with these controversies in mind, then, that we venture to comment on the architecture of our local courthouses, styles I am well familiar with having entered those halls of justice so often.  Comparing the state courthouses in the tri-county area is to relive the classic divide between traditionalists and the new.   

             Let’s begin with the Miami-Dade courthouse.  Venturing closer from the street level, you are confronted with a towering example of neo-classical features.  Sliced columns at the second level reminiscent of national buildings we are so familiar with, rising into the crowning triangular shapes of the pantheon.

             Coming closer to enter the hallowed space where lady justice reigns (as do sleazy attorneys; misogynistic judges who make comments on attractive court reporters; and bums sleeping across the street who keep their watchful eyes on the building), we pass through the columns that we often associate with neo-classical style.  At a height high above the ground, these columns may evince in some a feeling of feeling small in the face of authority; to others, they may signify the solemnity that we should feel when dealing in matters of life and liberty.

               

We even pass by a solemn statue of the man for whom the Miami-Dade courthouse is named, Henry Flagler.  

At one time, the courthouse was reputedly the tallest building in America south of Baltimore.     

              

              Traditionalists and fans of neoclassicism, then, will surely love the adhesion to timeless principles that are echoed in our most revered sites across the nation.  Haters of the style will likely see only symbols of our less equal past.

                

             This critic, for one, sides with the fans of the classic; it is one thing to advocate for new wave trends or for innovation in our commercial districts, but this author believes that nothing is lost, “Rien n’est perdu,” in the fearless new world words of Captain Nostromo, when we adhere to principles that remind the educated among us of the foundation upon which our Western system is founded.  Truth, liberty, justice – for this author, these principles are signified by the architectural parallels to the pantheon, by the impressive seeming permanence of the columns. 

              From the FAD Palm Beach then, we issue three cheers to the Miami Dade Courthouse, a rare and shining example of neo-classical architecture in our plasticky South Floridian midst.  Just as my co-blogger might say about fashion design & trends, I am of the persuasion that in architecture, we can never go wrong with the classics.