These rows of chimeric figures are not particularly grotesque,m but that certainly are interesting! They are found on the facacde of the 1910 Harris Count Courthouse located at 310 Fannin Street in downtown Houston. Lions and what appear to be medievally-dressed royalty -- pretty random stuff, but well-carved and artistic! :)
More information about the building is written on the state historic marker outside as follows:
"HARRIS COUNTY 1910 COURTHOUSE
This site has served as the courthouse square for Harris (originally Harrisburg) County since the completion of the first county courthouse, a two-story frame structure, in April 1838. Later courthouses were constructed on this site in 1851, 1860 and 1884.
The present structure, which was built in 1909-10, served as the fifth Harris County courthouse at this location. Designed by Charles Erwin Barglebaugh, an associate in the prominent Dallas architectural firm of Lang and Witchell, the building features classical revival styling. Outstanding details include the domed roof, ornate central projections, or risalits, with corinthian columns, and elaborate ornamentation of terra cotta, limestone and masonry. Building materials include pink Texas granite and light brown St. Louis brick. During construction of the courthouse, county offices were housed in a nearby theater.
Shortly after a new criminal courthouse and jail facility was built east of the square in 1952, this structure was remodeled and used as the Harris County Civil Courts building. Beginning in 2009, the county restored the exterior and interior public spaces to their original 1910 appearances. Now in its second century serving the citizens of Harris County, the 1910 courthouse is a dramatic example of civic architecture and a symbol of Harris County’s dynamic growth in the early part of the twentieth century.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2009
Marker is property of the State of Texas"
From the Texas Historical Commission: (
visit link)
"Architectural Description
The Harris County Courthouse is a six story structure of neo-classical design topped by a prominent clerestory drum and dome. It occupies an entire city block, called Courthouse Square, in the oldest section of downtown Houston near Allen's Landing. This square, bounded by Fannin Street, Congress Avenue, San Jacinto Street and Preston Avenue, has served as the site of the seat of government in Harris County since 1837.
Situated in the center of the square, the courthouse is rectangular in plan and is bilaterally symmetrical about both the major and minor axes. The shorter or side elevations face Congress (north) and Preston (south) and extend almost to the side-walk. The longer, principal elevations face Fannin (west) and San Jacinto (east) and are set back farther from the street. The two principal elevations are identically composed as are the two side elevations.
. . .
The dominant feature of each of the four facades is the central projection which rises the full height of the main block. Each of these projections contains a balustraded loggia in the piano nobile zone. The projections on the north and south elevations are shallower than those of the principal east-west facades. Paired colossal Corinthian columns frame each of the three loggia bays of the east and west elevations. On the shorter north and south elevations, however, the central bay of either loggia is framed by single colossal Corinthian columns while narrow, fenestrated bays are introduced behind the paired outer ranks of columns. The attic level of each projecting bay is crowned with a raking parapet. The architrave and frieze of the dentilled raking cornice are detailed with stylized brickwork and iron grills. The tympanum contains a large medallion displaying an open book set within the scales of justice and underlined with a bilateral feather ornament. Other conspicuous decoration on the facades of the courthouse includes sculptured female faces which peer out from scroll brackets positioned like keystones above segmentally arched windows of the second floor. Abstractly rendered lion heads with depending floral ornament occur at the frieze level above the rusticated piers on each elevation. . . ."