1910 Harris County Courthouse - Houston, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 29° 45.665 W 095° 21.584
15R E 271832 N 3294644
The six story rotunda is capped by a large stained glass skylight, visually supported on four massive ornamental plaster capitals, themselves carried by equally massive pilasters clad in marble.
Waymark Code: WMW9C4
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/29/2017
Views: 3
Traditional Building WebsiteBuilt in 1910 in the Beaux-Arts style, the Harris County Courthouse in downtown Houston, TX, is one of the most significant historic courthouses in the state. The elegant, 152,936-sq.ft., six-story structure was designed by Charles Edwin Barglebaugh of the Dallas firm of Lang & Witchell.
A renovation in the 1950s removed most of the historic fabric in the interior and significant elements on the exterior. Floors had been added at each level in the rotunda, closing off the area to natural light that would have come in through the original 80-ft.-dia. art-glass dome. The art-glass dome was gone too; it had been removed because of hurricane damage.
The good news is that the historic building has been saved and restored, as much as possible, to its original 1910 condition, thanks to a $52-million, seven-year restoration, completed in 2012.
Reconstructing the art-glass dome was a significant challenge. The architects had no historic evidence or photos to follow, with the exception of indentations in the base of the concrete piers from the original steel structure. These, at least, indicated the shape and general curvature of the dome.
The ARCHITEXAS team decided to go with a Prairie-style art-glass dome. I.H.S. Studios, Fredericksburg, TX, worked with the architects to detail and construct the new art-glass dome.