The Bexar County Courthouse is a historic building in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, United States. The building was designed by architect James Riely Gordon, and borders Main Plaza, along with such other architectural landmarks as the Cathedral of San Fernando. The style is

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

, and the main material used is red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. Ground was broken for Gordon's structure on August 4, 1891, and the cornerstone was laid December 17, 1892. After several delays, construction was fully completed in 1896. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1977. The Courthouse currently functions as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Bexar County. In the years of 1870-1910, almost every town in Texas had built a courthouse. The Bexar County Courthouse is the largest and oldest courthouse that is still operating in Texas.

Architect

James Riely Gordon was the architect of the courthouse. He was born in Winchester, Virginia. His family moved to San Antonio, where he did most his work, when he was 11. In 1891, Gordon won a competition that would get him the commission of the Bexar County Courthouse. He has accounted for 18 courthouses, in which 12 of those still stand today. There are only a couple that aren't in Texas.

History

There has been four major additions to the courthouse. The first one happened in 1914. The second one in 1923 was a massive remodeling and expansion to accommodate the growing population. Another expansion happened in 1963 where 9,000 square were added. The biggest expansion happened in 1972 where almost 39,000 square feet was added to the building. In total, the building is about 300,000 square feet. There has been a recent finished restoration project that costed $9.1 million. It included the restoration of the original building. This recent restoration project removed the 1963 and 1972 additions. It seems that the main goal of this project was to return the courthouse to its original plan as much as they could, although the original plan before any additions cannot be found. This restoration improved the building by creating new entrances and a new stairway.

Description

A four story red sandstone building. It is Romanesque Revival. The main entrance is an arched entrance. The courthouse has lived through major political changes which charged a lot of the unneeded expansions or renovations. It was rededicated in 2015.

Gallery

File:MainstreetSA.jpg, Main Plaza, Cathedral, and Court House, San Antonio, Texas File:San Antonio July 2017 06 (Bexar County Courthouse).jpg, The Courthouse viewed from Main Plaza File:Bexar County Courthouse, San Antonio (2006).jpg, Another view of the Courthouse File:Bexar County Court House Postcard Image.jpg, Postcard illustration of Bexar County Court House (ca.1896-1907)

Bibliography

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External links