When I've finally visited and photographed ALL 254 Texas county courthouses I intend to create pages on this website devoted to catagorising the courthouses by decades, style, and architects.  Actually, I've already created a few lists of architects and their courthouses: Gordon, Phelps, Heiner and Curtis.

This past Sunday, August 19, I re-visited Collin and Rockwall counties, specifically their new courthouses.  This got me to thinking about the courthouses I've seen that were designed and constructed in the 21st Century.  Five come to mind:  Collin, Fort Bend, Galveston, Rockwall and Zapata counties.  (Midland County occupied a new building recently, but it's truly a rehab of an existing 1980's era office building.)  There will be others, I'm sure, and I will eventually see them all.  For now, I want to share a photo of each of the five county courthouses listed above and discuss the recent direction courthouse design is taking in Texas.

Houston based PGAL was the architect for this "neo-classical" style courthouse for rapidly growing Collin County.  Located on a large, previously undeveloped property on the west side of US Highway 75, the 300,000 square foot, 4 story building reminds me of a big box store at a suburban mall.  It's front facade is carefully designed, or decorated, to quickly identify it to drivers as they approach across vast expanses of parking lots.  This is county government and justice as a franchise.  The courthouse no longer needs to "anchor" a public square in the center of town.  Rather, the 21st Century courthouse is at exit 42 on the freeway, with easy on/off ramps and plenty of free parking.  What's lost is the connection to a traditional public space, a courthouse square.  In the 21st century version, the anchor is just another development.

PGAL also designed the new Fort Bend County "Justice Center" on a site in the rapidly growing Houston suburb of Richmond.  The property also inlcudes the County Jail, Sheriff's Offices, other county buildings and a parking garage.  At just 265,000 square feet, this 4 story building is smaller than Collin County (by a little) but it is the same "neo-classical" style applied to a contemporary building.  Like the Collin County courthouse, this is government as a stand alone destination, removed from any particular historic relationship to the county it serves and represents.  At least the Fort Bend County building is part of a government compound and is oriented towards the Brazos River, the 19th century "highway" of this area. 

By the way, Fort Bend County's earlier courthouse and another courts building remain in downtown Richmond. 

Galveston County long ago demolished its historic courthouse.  A 1966 courthouse is still is use in Galveston, but it is too small to serve the needs of the growing county.  The 2011 Courts Building, by Bay Architects, is closer to the mainland via I-45, which terminates on Galveston Island, not far from the Justice Center.  The facility includes the Courts Building, a Sheriff's Office and County Jail.  The facade of the Courts Building is designed in a what I'll call a "post-modern" style.  This site is also intended to be more easily accessible for drivers and offers plenty of parking and easy access to the freeway.  

I understand "little" Rockwall County is the fastest growing county in the state.  Brinkley Sargent Architects designed this new courthouse on land adjacent to the County Library, on the north side of I-30.  Clad in brick, this neo-classical edifice is the most "substantial" courthouse of the five 21st Century buildings I've seen.  There are actually two pedimented fronts on this courthouse, but only one is an entrance.  Here's a bonus photograph of the building as seen from across the freeway.

In South Texas, on the banks of the Rio Grande River, is the new Zapata County courthouse.  Designed by Morgan Spear Associates, it opened in 2005.  Built on a hill, it has a commanding presence in this relatively small town.  The style is neo-historic and combines regional touches with a vaguely neo-classical plan.  Unfortunately, the dome is not tall enough to be appreciated at close distances from the building. 

Clearly, architects are trending towards historic styles for county courthouses.  This is in stark contrast to the "modern" designs utlized from the middle of the 20th century through the 1970's.  As I've stated before in these pages, the 1970's were the low point of architectural design, at least for Texas courthouses.  Since then the state has promoted restoration of historic courthouses and I believe this has raised public and professional awareness of these older buildings.
 
However, as we move into a new century counties are once again building new courthouses and architects are trying to provide designs that are, shall we say, appropriate.  I don't think we've yet found an appropriate contemporary style that reflects our current conditions rather than masking new buildings with trappings of historic styles.  On the other hand, these five courthouses are far and away better, or at least less offensive, than those of the mid to late 20th century. 

Here's hoping someday a Texas county is willing to work with an architect and landscape architect to create something other than a "decorated shed."  Perhaps Hidalgo County will be the one?

When I began this website one year ago today, TXDOT's Librarian, Anne Cook, sent me a collection of 1939 era courthouse photographs from their collection.  These black and white images of county courthouses have made their way onto every completed county page of this website.  They're not exactly professional quality, and many are truly just a photograph of trees surrounding a courthouse, but they are an important part of this website's attempt to convey both the present and the past of our Texas courthouses.  My eventual "discovery" of the website courthousehistory.com (a collection of images of every county courthouse in the USA) made a job a whole lot easier, too!  Thank goodness for Google.

The scrapbook images in this post are part of a bonus I received from the TXDOT Library.  These are pages illustrating Texas county courthouses, and some context -- a roadside historical marker, a TXDOT Section Warehouse, etc.  I thought of these 70 plus year old pages today when I sat down to write something about the first year of this website.  The scrapbook collection of images for each county are similar to my own attempts to photograph not just a building, but also to capture something of its setting, or context, and the landscape of the county I'm visiting.  No matter how banal or unremarkable.  In that sense, I'm not inventing anything new; just updating what others, like Dr. Mavis Kelsey, have already accomplished with their photographs of Texas courthouses.

As I've traveled thousands of miles around my favorite state in the last few years, I've only grown more fond of Texas -- it's highways, vast horizons, dense forests, cluttered cities, interesting architecture, and more than a few fascinating courthouses.  The count now stands at 173 counties, leaving just 81 to go.  Of course, this project and this website will never be truly "finished."  Texas is growing and maturing too much to allow anyone to have ever "seen it all."  Thank goodness!

It's been a week since I returned from the Permian Basin road trip:  16 counties in 3 days.  I've already blogged about the daily drives so now I'll say a few words about the courthouses I visited.  Executive summary:  it's not a very memorable collection of buildings.  Actually, some are very memorable; just not a good memory!  Let's get started.

As you might guess, this mid-70's building replaced a beautiful, turn of the century courthouse.  An interesting twist:  the center of this symmetrical building is solid.  There are entrances on either side of the large blank facade, behind which is the courtroom.  Personally, I don't think it's a good design strategy to fill the center of a facade with, well, nothing.  Compare this to the Kent County courthouse which, using the same bi-lateral plan, successfully fills the large blank wall in the center by treating it as a billboard for the county. 

Not a bad design, but not particularly memorable or imaginative.  It's your basic mid-20th century governmental box.  An office building with a grand entrance.  I saw a lot of these in the Permian Basin.  They're very sturdy and utilitarian, like a good pair of work shoes. 

South of Big Spring, in the middle of a vast rolling prairie, much of it cultivated, is Garden City.  This lovely "temple" courthouse is in urgent need of a restoration, but its has good bones.  Hands down, the best courthouse I visited in the Permian Basin.

A brick box with some very flat classical details pasted on the facade.  Several additions later, this courthouse is still the most siginifcant building in the county, but that's setting the bar pretty low.  The ruins of a 1911 stone courthouse still exist a few miles north, in the former town of Stiles.  They're slowing collapsing, but the simple monumentality of the former Reagan County courthouse is still impressive. 

Typcial story.  The railroad passed Stiles by and the county seat moved to Big Lake.

Another courthouse that was absorbed within a so-called alteration and addition that left no evidence of the previous building.  The 1926 courthouse, by Abilene architect David S. Castle, is presumably still within this 1958 building, but you'd never know it.  From what I can tell, the original building is on the right in this photograph.  The vertical entrance piece in the center of the courthouse is new construction, along with everything to the left of the entrance.

The Crane County courthouse is a banal collection of several modern boxes with little personality.  Only the curving entrance canopies are noteworthy.  The remainder of the building is simply utilitarian and, let's just move on, okay?

The courthouse in downtown Odessa covers an entire city block.  The perforated sunscreen skin, supported by piloti, treats each facade in the same anonymous manner.  Is this the front, the side, or the back?  In this building, it doesn't matter.  A sign at this corner identifies it as the "public entrance."  Okay.  There's also another courthouse hiding somewhere inside this shell.  The 1938 courthouse was absorbed in this 1964 addition.  So I'm told.

Like the Howard County courthouse, this modern, mid-century building isn't bad.  It's just difficult to see the original courthouse.  Wings were added on each side, and the trees have almost completely obscured the front facade.  Really, can't they trim them? 

Speaking of trees, this trend of hiding the front of the courthouse between a veil of trees is getting tiresome.  This 1937 courthouse in Pecos has a nice Mediterranean style but it, too, has been repeatedly added to and altered, and not for the better.  And, the best part is hidden behind the trees.

All 82 of Loving County's residents could comfortably fit inside this modest courthouse.  It has survived 77 years in the middle of nowhere, Texas without any apparent additions and/or significant alterations.  And, the surrounding trees are at least some distance from the building.  A new courthouse annex has been erected across the street. 

A David S. Castle design, obscured by overgrown trees.  The building is another vaguely classical box.  Boring, but serviceable, I'm sure.  If the front facade were visible, it would be monumental, no doubt.  Time to trim the trees.

I discussed the Midland County courthouses in the previous blog entry.  To repeat, the 1930 building was absorbed into a 1974 shell that screams "look at me, I'm monumental!"   The current courthouse, housed in a modified 1980's office building is actually very appropriate for Midland County.  Seriously.

You'll be surprised to learn that trees hide the front of this courthouse.  The original utilitarian modern box has a one-story addition on the front that did to the composition of the main facade what the trees have done to the addition. Move along, nothing to see here. 

A familar story, the 1922 courthouse is altered and extended in 1955, leaving the historically styled original building hidden behind a modern facade.  And, a few trees.

This is the last and the saddest courthouse I visited in the Permian Basin.  The original 1916 building was completely despoiled during a 1952 "remodeling" that left the poor courthouse looking for all the world like a high school gym-nasium that's seen better days.  Oh, and there are trees obscuring all four sides of this courthouse.  In this case, that's a benefit.  All of the courthouses I visited could be greatly improved by a good landscape design.  Simply planting some trees in random locations and letting them grow, without any pruning, is not doing these public buildings any favors.  Except, perhaps, for Dawson County. 

Midland County, the business center of the Permian Basin oil fields, was established by the state legislature in 1885.  The first county courthouse was constructed in 1886.  Another followed in 1906, only to be replaced in 1930 by a modern courthouse, "One of the Finest and Most Beautiful Buildings in West Texas," if this postcard is to be believed:

This building served the county until, in 1974, a new "moderner" courthouse was constructed, around the 1930 building.  This is hardly the only example of a Texas courthouse enveloping (ingesting?) an older courthouse.  Other examples that come to mind are Coleman County, Scurry County, and Wharton County.  The 1974 courthouse:

As I noted before in this blog, the 1970's were, in my opinion, the absolute low point in courthouse design in Texas.

Not surprisingly, this building couldn't provide adequate space as the county grew in population.  Given the design and the location, there wasn't any way to expand the building.  So, the resourceful county administration decided to take advantage of what the city of Midland had in abundance, thanks to the 1980's boom and bust economy, an empty office building!  The Heritage-CBS Building (I'm not going to speculate on just what "heritage" referred to in this case.), built in 1982, was available.  Here's a description from a sales/leasing site for the building:

"Class "A" office building in the heart of Midland, Texas. 233,500 GSF building of 1982 Vintage with approximately five acre site and parking. Excellent condition! Former Texaco headquarters in Midland. Eleven story tower of glistening glass. Pentagon design allows each floor to have terrific window exposure for natural light and open atmosphere. Varied floorplans allow for single floor user with open bay design or other floors divisible with individual office suites for multi-tenant floors.  Situated on its own city block in downtown Midland, home of President Bush. There are approximately 571 surface parking spaces. The topography for all the parcels is level. (duh, this is Midland)
Corporate headquarters, administrative offices, support or back office operations are well suited to the building."

Apparently, Midland County made them an offer they couldn't refuse for the building.  The design firm of Parkhill Smith & Cooper planned the conversion of the office building for the county.  From the PSC's website:

"Parkhill, Smith & Cooper (PSC) is a full-service design firm that provides engineering and architectural design primarily in the public sector or with public entities, such as municipal infrastructure, education, healthcare and transportation. Established in 1945 in Lubbock, today PSC's office locations  include Abilene,  Amarillo, El Paso, Las
Cruces, Midland/Odessa  and currently has a staff of over 250 professional, technical and support personnel."

Here's a description of the project from PSC's website:

"The existing building, previously an office building, allowed for the use of existing walls and materials to be reused where possible to create the most efficient layout for each department. PSC worked with 20 Midland County de-partments to incorporate the basic functional and spatial relationships between office areas, courtrooms, administrative, and high security areas of the courthouse to plan for their current space needs, as well as their future
growth. The increased size of space allowed the opportunity to incorporate nine new courtrooms into the facility. Along with these courtroom spaces, holding cells and prisoner transport areas were incorporated. Also, a new elevator specifically designated for prisoner transport was designed into the new space to minimize prisoner interaction with the public visitors and to maintain a high level of security. The plans that were developed allowed each department close, easy access to the files and storage that they retrieve at least once a week, and to have growth space as well. Remote storage was developed for less frequently accessed items. Two of the eleven floors have been left as empty shell space for future growth."

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, the county began moving into the new $31.6 million courthouse building in August 2010 and closed the 1974 building on September 16, prior to opening the new courthouse on Thursday, September 23, 2010. 

Or, perhaps the new courthouse didn't open on a Thursday.  According to television station KWES, it was a Monday.

"MIDLAND COUNTY--It's the beginning of a new era.  The new Midland County courthouse opened for business on Monday and there's quite a bit of difference from before to after. ... According to [Midland County] Judge Bradford, one of the things that sets the new courthouse apart from the old, is the cutting edge design that went into it, 'This building is not just built for today.  It's built for the future.'  The first thing you'll notice, when you walk in the main doors, is the giant Midland County seal in the foyer, something distinctly new to the new courthouse.  A central jury room on the first floor, holds 302 perspective jurors and can also be used as a courtroom and other things, with some minor modifications. ... The sunlight, coming through the countless windows, combines with the furnishings to provide a more relaxed, stress-free atmosphere for attorneys, clients and anybody attending a trial or hearing. ... In case you don't notice when you pull into the parking lot, there actually is a parking lot.  The Midland County Courthouse has gone from 31 to 554 public parking spaces."

What will happen to the former Midland County courthouse?  An article in the Midland Reporter-Telegram on September 28, 2010 had this to say:

"With boxes still being unpacked at the new Midland County Courthouse,  officials say it's a little early to turn their sights back to the now historical Midland County Courthouse. ... However, when the time does come, they'll have a list of dozens of ideas to sift through that include everything from turning the 1930s building into the  future home of the justice of the peace offices to creating another downtown  office complex for businesses. ... What the eventual outcome will be, Bradford said following the county commissioners' meeting Monday, likely isn't something officials will know soon."