fireplaces in the corners of the
east end of the room were bricked-in and covered with plaster.

On the south wall, a stairway provided access to the balcony over the
open portion of the room adjacent to the outer entrance. From the rear
of the balcony were doorways into a jury room and small office which
occupied the second-floor space over the entrance arcade. Three rows
of benches, each raised one step above the one in front, provided
additional seating space for visitors in the balcony. The ceiling of
the courtroom was sheet metal (tin) with a pattern of ridges arranged
in rectangular shapes. Central heating was provided by hot water
radiators.

In 1929, an addition was constructed on the south side at the rear of
the original courthouse, making an L-shaped building. In this process
the clerk's office which was built in 1876 was torn down. Harmony of
scale, materials and style were maintained between the old and new
sections.[159]

[Illustration: The old court room prior to restoration. Photo by Lee
Hubbard, 1966.]

Twenty years later, in 1951-56, the courthouse again was expanded by
addition of a center block, and another wing identical with the
original and first addition segments. At the rear (west side) of these
new portions, two wings were added to house, respectively, the records
of the clerk's office and a new, larger jail. With the completion of
this construction, the old courtroom in the original wing of the
building ceased to be used regularly for judicial business. Two large
courtrooms and several smaller chambers in the center block of the
building provided facilities for hearing cases. The new and larger
building also provided space for the offices of the County's elected
officials and most of the major boards, commissions and administrative
departments which comprised the county's government in the
1950's.[160]

In both exterior and interior appearance, the courthouse additions of
1931 and 1954 were designed to harmonize with the original style James
Wren established in 1800. The use of brick, gable-end roof lines,
proportioning of the scale of various segments of the building,
compatible fenestration and colonial period styles in hardware and
painting all contributed to this result. Most influential of all in
maintaining this architectural integrity, perhaps, was the use of
archways and open arcades at the entrances to the center block and two
wings. These open arcades, with their simple, undec