The Montgomery County Circuit Courthouses are part of the Montgomery County Judicial Center located in downtown Rockville

Rockville, Maryland

Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The Red Brick Courthouse, located at 29 Courthouse Square, houses the refurbished Grand Courtroom; the newer Circuit Court building, located at 50 Maryland Avenue, houses the remainder of the county's justice system.

Circuit Court for Montgomery County building

The Montgomery County Judicial Center, a Brutalist building constructed in the 1980s, houses the Montgomery County Circuit Court, the Offices of the Sheriff, the Register of wills, the Orphans' Court and the State's Attorney for Montgomery County. The Judicial Center and District Court buildings, together with the Rockville City Hall are located in downtown Rockville, Maryland, at the corner of Maryland Avenue and Jefferson Street (Rte 28). The District Court is on the west side of Maryland Avenue, across the street from the Judicial Center.

History

There have been four court houses in Rockville since it was established as the County seat in 1776. Court was originally held at the Hungerford Tavern until a frame court house was erected in the 1790s. By 1810, a new court house was needed. In 1835 the General Assembly authorized a new brick court house and then again in 1890, the later which was built in a Romanesque Revival style. In 1931 the grey Neoclassical style courthouse was constructed and connected to the 1890 court house to suit the county's growing population. The grey courthouse now serves as home to the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County.

Historic District

There are several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 within the area; they all make up the Montgomery County Courthouse Historic District, which was designated in 1986.. The district is focused on what remains of Rockville's old commercial, governmental, and residential center, most of which was demolished during urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

 in the 1960s. The district includes two county courthouses, the 1891 red brick Romanesque Revival structure and the 1931 Neo-classical granite building with a 1960s addition, the 1939 Georgian-styled Post Office of limestone construction, and the 1930 Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

stone structure built for the Farmers Banking and Trust Company. It extends over an area of two city blocks. The 1891 courthouse was designed by prominent Baltimore architect Frank E. Davis.