Fort Worth US Courthouse - Fort Worth, Texas
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txoilgas
N 32° 44.987 W 097° 19.981
14S E 656169 N 3624777
Completed in 1934 during the Great Depression, the U.S. Courthouse symbolized growth and renewed optimism in Fort Worth. Akin to other buildings of the 1930s, its design and construction fit the pattern of the New Deal-era federal building programs enacted to relieve widespread unemployment. Recognizing that the city’s existing federal building was inadequate for the burgeoning federal agencies, Congress appropriated $1,215,000 in June 1930 for the construction of a new U.S. Courthouse.
Waymark Code: WM7A94
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/26/2009
Views: 10
The Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse is an impressive five-story building, creating the illusion of a solid limestone mass rising to a height of 94 feet. It is designed in the Art Moderne style, incorporating classical elements. A steel and concrete structure faced with limestone veneer, each elevation adheres to classical principles of symmetry and articulation by a regular rhythm of bays with a centralized principal entrance. Art Moderne elements are embodied by the sharp angles and zigzag surfaces seen in the stacked fenestration of the upper stories, and in the geometric, low-relief abstraction of the ornamentation.
The first three floors of the courthouse form a rectangular block, while upper floors are E-shaped, opening to the south to form two, three-sided light wells. Original access to the building was gained through three sets of bronze and glass double doors, flanked by Art Deco lanterns of aluminum and glass fronting West Tenth Street. Aluminum grilles in Mayan ziggurat, zigzag, Plains Indian arrows, and Egyptian lotus motifs are set over each pair of doors. Metal trim with Pueblo designs accentuates the windows of the second, third, and fourth floors. The smooth stone walls of the first story rise to a flattened, dentiled stringcourse before a shallow setback to the upper-story block. The outer bays of the second story have semicircular balconies of corbelled stone and metal railings. In between, eleven sets of three-story, stacked windows are each angled outward to the central mullion, creating a distinctive zigzag pattern across the surface of the facade. The window spandrels separating each floor feature moldings incised with black designs in Pueblo Indian motifs. The elongated bays are capped by horizontal windows at the fifth story, as the stone walls terminate to a flat roof. The east and west elevations are mirror images of each other and vary little from the facade, except in their width.
Street address:
501 West 10th
Fort Worth, Texas USA
76102
County / Borough / Parish: Federal
Year listed: 2001
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1950-1974
Historic function: Government
Current function: Government
Privately owned?: no
Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 3:00 PM
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.