Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-08-20

] BILE from which 10 choose, they
placed the following advertisement
in the newspapers of the county
the Nashville American and the
Courier Journal, at Louisville:
TO ARCHITECTS:
GAINESVILLE, Tenn, June 8, lSSI.-The
undersigned having been appointed Com
miSSiOners by the County Court of Mont
gomery county, Tenn, to superintend the
Architects desiring to offer plans for the
same, to do so on or before the Sd day of
August, 1873.
! ISigned, etc.l
This notice brought many letters
of enquiry as to the kind of house
to be built; the nature of the lot
UPON which ii WIS 10 stand, ETC.,
and in answer to these the follow
ing descriptive letter was written
and printed, and copy was sent to
each architect desiring to compete:
| GAINESVILLE TENN, July 2. IS7S-Dear
/ Str:-HOurs ot-is received, in reply to
| which beg leave to state that the lot on
/ which our Court-h ouSe is to be built IS 2l6
/ by pa feet. 1t is bounded on the East,
| South and West by street. The lot is about
i 4
| the Northeast corner. II is, with this grad
ual depression, level. The ground is clay
intermixed with gravel.
we want good Courthouse with the;frst
story fire proof. In the first story we want
| the principal offices. We will want Coun-
ty Clerks office with two rooms, Circuit
| Court Clerks office with two rooms, Chan
Gerry Court Clerks Office with two rooms,
Registers Office with one room. All of these
TO be ON the first floor and fire proof.
We will want Circuit Court room of say
40X60 feet. We viii have to leave the pro-
portions to our architect, but will need Mt
| least that much room. Also a room for Coun-
| ty Court of about the same dimensions. a
/ Chancery Court room say of 24X30 feet. Also
| a Grand Jury room. Our Grand Jurys are
/ composed of thirteen men. a Petit Jury
| room. II we could have two of the latter 1t
/ would be better. a Library room, a County
| Judges room and a Sheriff7s office. These
| could be on either the first or second story.
The building to be of trick with stone
| foundation. We have within two miles Of
/ GAINESVILLE an excellent stone quarry mex
/ hauStible in quality.
/ We can use brick made here and laid in
| the wall at $40 per thousand. Will want the
/ best of material of timber and leave that to
| be named by architect with privilege TO
| change selection.
The house TO have three fronts-West,
| south and East. The main front will be on
| No appropriation has been made but we
| suppose one will be provided equal to the
ments. We wish good, substantial Court
| house, with first story fire proof SO that our
| records viii always be safe.
Twenty different plans were of
fered by sixteen different architects,
the estimated cost of the lowest
being thirty-five thousand dollars {;
of the highest, one hundred and
nineteen thousand dollars. From
these the commissioners selected
the plan of G. w. Bunting, an arch
itect from Indiana, the estimated
cost of his building being fifty-five
thousand dollars, complete in every
respect, and Mr.. Bunting assured
the commissioners that McCOrmaC
q Sweeny, of Columbus, Indiana,
would take the contract and build
the house for this sum. Mr.. Nc
Cormac, the senior member of the
above firm, had accompanied Mr..
Bunting to GAINESVILLE, and was in
the town when his (Bunting's)
plan was adopted.
On Saturday, August 10-to
which day the Quarterly court had
adjourned-the magistrates of the
county again met, and the opinion
having been expressed by other
architects that the house selected
by the commissioners could not be
built for fifty-five thousand dollars,
Mr.. Bunting, who was present and
exhibited his plans, stated to the
court that he was authorized to say
that the firm above mentioned
would complete the house, accord
ing to his plans, in every particular
for $50, 900, and that this sum would
cover the entire expense which the
county would be pat to for the
building.
The court then adopted the plan
(ayes, IL; noes, 81, and the follow
ing resolution of G. III. Slaughter
was unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the acceptance of the pro-
posed courthouse plan shall not be binding
IN amy manner upon the county, the court
! OF tiS commissioners until contracts are
closed with responsible persons, who have
executed their bond with such security as
may be approved by all of the said commits
slonersi that the said courthouse shall De
IulIy completed in every particular IN ae-
cordanee with the drawings shown and the
specifications referring thereto, for sum
not exceeding S55,0OO the amount OF cost as
estimated by q. w. Bunting.
The lot and the plan being thus
chosen, the commissioners, on the
2Sd OF October, 1873, entered into a