We found one of the most truly stunning examples of Second Empire courthouse architecture in the town of Shelbyville. Based off the architecture of French royal palaces, themselves partly influenced by the architecture of Michelangelo, these structures are the cousins of the Old Post Office in St. Louis. Typified by Mansard roofs and heavy colonnades, this courthouse has unique pointed Gothic arch fenestration. The tower completes the composition; many courthouses lost their central tower in the Twentieth Century due to structural problems.
