Union County Courthouse

Contributors:
Bruce and Morgan, architects (1887-1888); J. T. Hart, contractor (1887-1888); Thomas J. Holt, superintending architect (1887-1888); C. C. Hook, architect; Hook and Hook, architects; Walter Hook, architect (1926); George M. Tucker, contractor (1926)
Dates:

1887-1888; 1926 [additions]

Location:
Monroe, Union County
Street Address:

Courthouse Square, Monroe, NC

Status:

Standing

Type:

Public

Images Published In:

Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Suzanne S. Pickens, ed., Sweet Union: An Architectural and Historical Survey of Union County, North Carolina (1990).

Note:

The Union County Courthouse has long been credited solely to architect Thomas J. Holt, but the strong similarity with a courthouse by Bruce and Morgan in Monroe, Georgia, seems to confirm the statement in the Fayetteville Weekly Observer of April 20, 1893, that architects Bruce and Morgan were noted for their courthouses in the South, including in North Carolina, such as “the one at Monroe and the elegant house at Murphy.” Union County, N. C. records payments to T. J. Holt for services in “superintending erection of Court House and board from May 1887 to Jany 1888.” Contractor J. T. Hart received regular payments for his work. Later on, in 1889, the commissioners authorized payment of $300 to W. H. Fitzgerald and C. N. Simpson for “services as Building Committee in the erection of the Court House, and an additional $10 to W. H. Fitzgerald for “expenses incurred in procuring plans and specifications of the Courthouse”—possibly from Bruce and Morgan—which were probably turned over to Holt to superintend the execution in coordination with contractor Hart. C. C. Hook and his son Walter were the architects for the 1926 additions.