Walking tours
Luzerne County Court House Tour
Step inside one of Pennsylvania’s grandest public buildings with Tony Brooks: marble halls, mosaic portraits of the people who shaped the Wyoming Valley, and a painted dome crowned with stained glass.
Built
1906–1909
Architect
Frederick J. Osterling
Where
200 North River Street
What you’ll see
The dome
A 53-foot rotunda
The dome rises to a stained-glass skylight bearing the county seal, ringed by twelve allegorical paintings and four great figures of the law.
The portraits
56 founders and leaders
Portraits of the men who shaped the Wyoming Valley look down from the vaulted corridor ceilings, set in groups of four.
The mosaics
Knowledge, justice and time
First-floor mosaics show the book and lamp, the scales and the hourglass; cameos upstairs represent virtues such as courage and patriotism.
The foyer
A Diamond City ceiling
Arthur Brounet’s foyer ceiling is laid out in diamond-shaped panels, a nod to Wilkes-Barre’s nickname.
A courthouse built to impress
The cornerstone was laid on April 5, 1906, and the building opened in 1909. Pittsburgh architect Frederick J. Osterling designed it in the Classical Revival style, on a cross-shaped plan built of Ohio sandstone, reinforced concrete and terra cotta, facing the Susquehanna across the River Common.
Inside, a team of decorative artists — Vincent Aderente, Robert Benvenuti, Arthur Brounet, U. Pastore and Frederick Stohr — covered the walls and ceilings with paintings and mosaics celebrating the county’s history and ideals.
The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and its dome and murals were conserved by John Canning Studios in 2017–2018.
Group tours
Bring your group
Tours are offered for schools, clubs, professional associations and visiting groups. Contact Tony Brooks at 570-793-3631 or tony@wbpreservation.org to arrange a tour for your group.