The Municipal Contagious Disease Hospital/Google, 2022

On the 96-acre plot on which the Cook County Criminal Courthouse sits, there is only one other building showcasing Neoclassical elements. While Hall, Lawrence and Ratcliffe were the architects behind the courthouse, the second Neoclassical building — the current Cook County Sheriff’s Office at 3026 S. California Ave. was constructed by Charles W. Kallal in 1914 (City of Chicago). This three-story Classical Revival building was originally the Municipal Contagious Disease Hospital (City of Chicago). The rest of the plot is occupied by Cook County Department of Corrections buildings that have been added throughout the 20th  and 21st centuries to accommodate Cook County Jail’s persistent overcrowding problem. The result is an increasingly mismatched collage combining aesthetics and form of the “ultra-modern” with the Neoclassical (Fegelman and Marx).

Furthermore, when driving in the South Lawndale community area in which the courthouse sits, it appears that this seven-story building is one of the tallest in sight. Yet the building is nevertheless neglected except for the Chicagoans who are sitting trial or imprisoned in the neighboring Cook County Jail. As stated in the "History" section of this e-portfolio, the geographic location was purposefully chosen to be secluded, roughly six miles from the Loop. However, when considering that it was built by architects Hall, Lawrence and Ratcliffe, who were infamous for the Chicago “Madhouse” Stadium, and it features Neoclassical ornamentation characteristic of buildings throughout the Loop, there appears to be a noticeable contradiction of intent with the courthouse's planning committee.

Western Architect, Vol. 38/Public Domain

However, this highly differentiated architecture is also the result of changing attitudes toward incarceration and the criminal justice system. For example, the maximum security prison built in 1995 used a concrete precast structure with lofty ceilings to contrast the “drab and cramped interiors that characterize many older prisons and jails,” (Fegelman and Marx). This design, along with the orange, yellow, blue and green paint decorating the interiors was intended to have a pacifying effect and to “give the inmate a space that is breathing into him some sort of dignity,” (Fegelman and Marx). This is in stark contrast to the jail constructed by Eric Hall and his firm, which while still hoping to design a space that wouldn’t make the inmates worse off, they nevertheless resorted to constructing the smallest possible space for one man (Hammett).

In 2012, the Cook County Criminal Courthouse was renamed The Honorable George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building after Civil Rights leader and retired judge George N. Leighton (Cook County Government). According to a press release from the renaming ceremony, Leighton was chosen in particular for the fact that his "legacy is an indication of the social progress we have made in the past century," (Cook County Government). The press releases continues with the contradictory statements that "this permanent dedication in his honor will serve as a reminder of life’s possibilities and the importance of the pursuit of justice," but also that the institution "remains one of the busiest criminal courthouses in the United States," (Cook County Government). Thus, this appears to be a modern continuation of the original planning committee's contradictory intents to use allegorical figures and inscriptions of "law" and "justice" while also "secluding" and "segregating" the prisoners from the rest of society (Hammett).