Donna and I spent this beautiful day in Galveston. In particular, I spent some time photographing the 2006 Galveston County Courts Building and other sights in this truly historic Texas city. The new county courts building seen below was completed in 2006 and designed by Bay Architects. The property also houses the Galveston Sheriff's Offices and the Galveston County Jail. The new county justice center is some distance from the 1966 Galveston County Courthouse. Here's the new Justice Center:
Galveston County Courts Building. November 13, 2011.
I'll give this new building a "thumbs up." It looks that a civic building, which is more than can be said for many most attempts to design contemporary county courthouses in the 20th century. It's not a building that was intended to be located in the center of town, in a traditional courthouse square, but rather, a one-sided design intended to be viewed from the nearby I-45 as citizens enter Galveston from the mainland. I was reminded of another new courthouse, the new Zapata County Courthouse that I visited a couple of weeks ago. It was completed in 2005, from a design by Architect Morgan Spear Associates. Here it is:
Zapata County Courthouse, Zapata, Texas. October 27, 2011.
The Zapata County Courthouse, on a hill overlooking the Rio Grande valley, is a bi-axially symmetrical building, in keeping with the traditional courthouse square layout, although here the building axis do NOT extend beyond the actual property. And, the style, while recalling historic forms and uses of materials, is decidedly contemporary. Architects still have a long way to go to match the urbanism and creativity of many 19th century Texas courthouses. But, for the time, we've moved on from the truly awful 1970's designs I highlighted in a previous post.
And then there's this image of 21st century Galveston:
And then there's this image of 21st century Galveston:
Carnival cruise ship "Magic" looms over the port of Galveston, Texas. November 13, 2011.
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