New Franklin County Judicial Center Will Have Familiar Look

A new courthouse will soon rise in Kentucky’s capital city of Frankfot, but it doesn’t mean the end of the historic 1835 courthouse in the city's center. Franklin County needed a new judicial center, but demolishing Frankfort’s 176-year old, Greek-revival style courthouse was out of the question.  So architects wrapped the new facility around the old, picture-framing the original limestone building.  At groundbreaking ceremonies for the new facility, Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John Minton applauded the decision to combine the old, with the new.“To meet the growing demands of a 21^st Century court, while at the same time preserving and using one of the commonwealth’s landmarks.”Some site preparation surprises and rainy weather pushed the groundbreaking back a few months, but construction bids are in and the $29 million project is on target for completion in 2013.