Tarrant County Courthouse - Ft. Worth, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 32° 45.433 W 097° 20.021
14S E 656095 N 3625600
Courthouse was modeled after the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.
Waymark Code: WMZHNQ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/15/2018
Views: 7
National Register of Historic Places
"Architect, builder, or engineer: Gunn & Curtis"
"Architectural Style: Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Renaissance"
Texas Courthouses
National Register Narrative
"A four story red Texas granite structure with central and end pavilions with central clock tower capped by a domed lantern. The style is Renaissance in derivation and the sides and back of the building are very much like the Texas State Capitol. The main front pavilion, however, is more ornate and Venetian than the State Capitol, with slender paired columns and Renaissance pediments and entablatures. There is a portico with classical balustrade supported by elongated paired “Doric” columns encompassing the first two stories, and applied paired “Ionic” columns at the third and fourth levels. Some crested mansard roofs are visible above the balustrade at the top of the building.
The building stands at the head of Main Street and forms the terminus of the axis of downtown Fort Worth."
"The Commissioners hired Kansas City architects Gunn and Curtis; they placed the construction contract with Probst of Chicago. Work began in 1893, and ended in 1895 with a domed Renaissance Revival building of red Texas granite. It included four floors and a basement, and closely resembled the Texas State Capitol at Austin. The main pavilion was, however, more ornate than that of the Capitol.
Total cost of the courthouse was $408,840, and the citizens were so scandalized by the immensity and cost that they voted every member of the Commissioner’s Court out of office at the next election. Today, the courthouse is an appropriate size for the needs of Tarrant County, and one of the few changes has been the addition of a new Civil Courts Building."
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