Wikipedia:Peer review/Third Onondaga County courthouse/archive1

Third Onondaga County courthouse

Hoping for feedback with an eye towards potential FAC. Thanks, Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 20:29, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

I'm on it. RoySmith (talk) 18:29, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

General

• I'm not sure if this is strictly a WP:FACR, but I suggest adding alt= to all images per MOS:ALT.

Lead

• "Onondaga County had two courthouses" makes it sound like there were two in use at the same time. Rephrase to make it clear that one followed the other.

• Does the current rephrasing work?

• "the first in Onondaga Hill" I assumed this was the name of a geological feature, and thus should be "on" intead of "in". Making it "the town of Onondaga Hill" would eliminate the confusion.

• Done

• Consider adding {{infobox building}}

Description

• The first two sentences ("The courthouse ... 80 feet (24m) tall" seem awkward, but I'm having trouble finding a better wording. I think you can drop "primarily" as redundant to "main". With the right magic, you can make {{convert}} produce "60 by 100 feet (18 by 30 m)". Maybe "frontage" is a better word than "wide".

• Revised with "The main courthouse was", changed 'convert'

• "in the Italianate architectural style." --> "in the Italianate style"

• Done

• "A two-story, 52 by 72 foot (16 by 22 m) main courtroom on the second floor"

• Describing the first floor first, then the second floor seems more natural.

• "After 1906, it was subdivided into two floors" it's unclear what 'it' refers to. I think you mean "the original second floor was subdivided"?

• Drop "accordingly"?

• Done these, reorganized the paragraph a bit

Earlier courthouses

• "Cities and towns competed for the influence holding it represented." I'm pretty sure "it" means "the county seat", but it's not entirely clear.

• "in between" I think you want just "between" per https://www.grammarly.com/blog/in-between-or-inbetween/

• "and also had a jail on the first floor and the courtroom on the second" drop the first "and"

• "until they were merged" ambiguous if "they" refers to "Syracuse and Salina" or the tensions between them.

• "was burnt down by arson," burnt is redundant with arson (not to mention I think it's "burned"). Maybe just "destroyed by arson"?

• Done these Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 12:27, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

Construction and use

• "plots of land surrounding the courthouse including a hotel," This equates "plot of land" and "hotel" which doesn't work. Maybe "properties surrounding the courthouse..."?
• "Clinton Square also had the benefit" implies you've previously described some other benefit, so maybe drop "also"?
• "relatively centrally located" Relative to what?
• "designed by the architect Horatio Nelson White," "architect" is implied by the fact that he designed the building, so no need to state it. Plus you say so in the next sentence (which is fine).
• "the best-known Syracuse architect" The source says "most productive and esteemed architect in the city"; I'm not sure if that's synonymous with "best-known". Maybe it's OK, not sure.

• I think "most esteemed" is roughly the same but I can either find better sourcing or tweak the article phrasing.

• " It was built from 1856 to 1857", flow this into the previous sentence?

• Moved this a paragraph down

• " He designed a courthouse in the Italianate architectural style.[2] His design has been described as" -> "His Italianate style design has been described as..."
• "used a very similar design for his work on courthouses..." As a matter of habit, I oppose almost all uses of the word "very". I like the "near-replica" wording from the source, so maybe use that?

• Will circle back to this

• "needed a courthouse which would represent Onondaga" you're missing a quote somewhere.

• Cut

• "The courthouse was constructed of..." Since you later refer to the roof and floors, the parallel (gramatical) construction here would be "The courthouse walls were constructed of ..."

• Done

• "and the windows of wood and glass,[1] and the back wall of brick." Repetitive use of "and".

• Just cut "windows of wood and glass"-- that doesn't really add anything.

• "Steam heat was added in the 1870s". What did it replace? Was it originally unheated?

• Will circle back to this as well

Replacement and later function

• "but for fifty years over", not sure what is meant by "over" in this context.

• Changed to "over fifty years"

Threats of demolition

• "In the 1950s, suggestions were made to tear the building down and replace it with a parking lot." I died a little bit when I read this.
• link Architecture Worth Saving in Onondaga County
• "which would the courtroom" missing "return"? "restore"?
• "which could then be used" avoid repetition of "which"
• "about 325-350 people" "about" is redundant with the numerical range.
• "Because this building held the heating, another system needed to be installed." I think what you mean to say is "Because this held the heating plant for both buildings, another system would need to be installed if the main building were to be preserved"?
• "As late as January 1966" -> "In January 1966"
• "quoted an architect as attributing Architecture Worth Saving and publicity surrounding with saving the courthouse..." Something is garbled here.
• "It was replaced by the Syracuse Newspapers Building (1971)" -> "In 1971, it was replaced..."

• DOne these

After demolition

• "11 or 11 m" that's just weird.

OK, that's it for me. RoySmith (talk) 20:11, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

Comments by Epicgenius

Placeholder for later. – Epicgenius (talk) 15:44, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

@Epicgenius: were you still thinking of reviewing this article? Z1720 (talk) 05:23, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, I am. I actually forgot about this (as usual). – Epicgenius (talk) 13:03, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Epic, wondering if you thought you would be able to circle back to this. If not, I'll probably close the PR Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 00:20, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

@Eddie891, unfortunately I've been forgetting to leave comments here. I think it may be best for me to just post my commentary on the talk page so this PR could be closed. – Epicgenius (talk) 00:25, 11 January 2024 (UTC)