Pitkin County Courthouse, Victorian courthouse in Aspen, United States.

The Pitkin County Courthouse is a two-story building with red brick walls, stone foundations, and tall windows arranged symmetrically across its facade to create a formal appearance. The structure displays typical Victorian architectural features with careful attention to design details.

Pitkin County was created in 1881, named for Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin, after Aspen grew past 10,000 residents during the Colorado Silver Boom. The county bought five lots in May 1890, and construction of William Quayle's design began that July amid accusations of corruption and favoritism. The courthouse opened in January 1891 with speeches and a firemen's ball; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 12, 1975.

The courthouse's Lady Justice, cast in stamped zinc in Salem, Ohio, in 1891 for $250, lacks the usual blindfold. Local lore holds that miners paid for it themselves and insisted she see clearly, scales in hand, to stress that justice in Aspen could be impartial without artificial restraints.

The courthouse sits on the north side of East Main Street between Galena and Hunter streets, set back behind a low iron fence and a red cobblestone sidewalk, with two large evergreens flanking it. The jail is in a modern extension at the rear, added in a 2010 renovation that also expanded the building for larger crowds. The entrance is reached by stone steps up to a steeply gabled stone projection.

The six-foot Lady Justice atop the entrance is pressed stamped zinc, made in Salem, Ohio, for $250. Its silvery paint recalls the silver mining behind Aspen's 1880s boom. Why she lacks the usual blindfold is uncertain; one story says commissioners wanted her watching the corruption allegations around the building.