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:
Image courtesy THC
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.
Midland County courthouse, 1974 edition
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."
"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."
The Heritage-CBS Building in Midland
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."
"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."
The Midland County courthouse is home to five State District Courts.
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."
"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."
Plenty of free parking!
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."
"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."
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