Troup County Courthouse
LaGrange Georgia

Often constructed through a New Deal program such as the WPA or the Public Works Administration, the courthouses of the 1930s generally were built in one of the two styles, Colonial Revival or Stripped Classical. Troup's 1939 courthouse,designed by William J.J. Chase, is an example of the latter. It is a style, as one observer has noted, that blends classicism, Art Deco, and utilitarian frugality.

The "stripping" of classical design elements can be seen at the main entrance where in the place of a true portico, there are only the outlines of columns and entablature. These are applied to the front for symbolic and decorative, not funtional, reasons. Nonetheless, these courthouses retain their dignity due in part to their formal composition and use of marble and other costly materials.

The previous courthouse, constructed in 1904, occupied the center of LaGrange's town square where the statue of LaFayette now stands. The rambling Neoclassicical/Beaux Arts pile burned in 1936. A Confederate monument, which stood on its east side, now stands in a park on the north side of downtown.

LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 636/111 Bull Street
LaGrange, Georgia 30241-0636
(706) 884-8671
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