Old Dallas County Courthouse - Dallas, Texas - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

The Dallas County Courthouse, a massive structure of contrasting blue granite and red Pecos sandstone, was built in the Romanesque Revival style. The primary architect, M.A. Orlopp, was born in Brooklyn, New York, to German immigrant parents. In June 1881, Orlopp graduated from the United States Naval Academy, and spent the next four years surveying railroads for the United States Corps of Engineers. At the time of his commission the Dallas Courthouse he was practicing as a principal in the firm of Orlopp and Kusener of Little Rock, Arkansas. Originally the building was dominated by a massive central tower 205 feet in height which, at the time of its erection, made it the second tallest building in the state. It housed four clockfaces and a 4,500 pound Howard bell. In February of 1919 a structural failure forced removal of the tower.

Otherwise the exterior largely retains its historic character. Rising from a one-story base of blue granite from Arkansas, the succeeding stories are of red Pecos sandstone enhanced by contrasting stringcourses and window enframements of the lighter stone. The masonry is strongly textured and features the heavily arched openings characteristic of the Romanesque. The entrances are supported on marble columns from Burnet. Eight circular turrets are dominant visual elements of the building as it now stands. At two elevations projecting pavilions rise to triangular termination lacking only the small flanking spires with which they were originally adorned. Originally each elevation featured a four foot terra cotta griffin from the Indianapolis Terra Cotta Company as adornment. Only two remain, one in its historic position, and the other preserved in the Dallas Historical Commission's archives.