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Jersey City Description

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In my town of Jersey City, I knew that the obvious topic for this assignment would be the William Brennan Courthouse which first opened in 1910. This building has grey stone tiles placed in a brick-like pattern. While not elevated, it is on a slight hill which provides a similar effect to that of Greek or Roman architecture. The overall shape of the building is rectangular with left and right portions having a flat top, and the center portion having a peaked roof like appearance. The very top of the building has a roof-like structure that points upward and was also made of copper but has turned a green color due to its natural chemical reaction with water. The three windows on the left and right and roof are copper, but have also turned. Some …show more content…

Yet, what I find interesting is that both of these architectural styles still contains some aspect of neoclassical architecture (mostly having vertical columns, and having an elevated base building). There are many buildings in American that this building could have drawn inspiration from, one in particular possibly being the Alexander Hamilton Custom House in New York City. Other famous buildings in America have similar traits to the William Brennan Courthouse, but there were few that I could find that had a lot of its similarities. Common traits included the elevated base, vertical columns, stone brick-like pattern, and squared/rectangular shape. If any ancient architectural structure were to resemble this courthouse, it would be the Flavian Amphitheatre in Pozzuoli, Italy. Although the buildings do not have structural similarities, they do share architectural aspects that can be seen in other renaissance and beaux-art style architecture. With the amphitheater utilizing a stone brick-like pattern, presenting elevated columns, having crown moldings that wrap around, and doorways under arches, it would be the best historical building to compare the courthouse

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