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The 1931 Jefferson
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
The 1931 Jefferson
County Courthouse -
Beaumont, Texas
Date - 1931
Architect - Fred C. Stone & A. Babin
Style - Moderne. 14 Stories
Material - Stone and brick
Location - 1149 Pearl St. at Franklin, Beaumont |
The Courthouse
as it appeared in 1939
Photo Courtesy TxDoT |
Historical
Marker: 1149 Pearl St. at Franklin
Jefferson
County Courthouse
The first county building constructed at this site was a jailhouse
completed in 1838, two years after the organization of Jefferson
County. Located on land acquired from Nancy Tevis, a pioneer settler
of the area, it also housed county offices and courts. When the commissioners
court outgrew the facility, sessions were held in private homes. The
first courthouse here was completed in 1854. Built by John A. Beaumont,
it was a two-story square structure surrounded by a six-foot picket
fence. Baptist and Methodist congregations conducted Sunday services
in the building and during the Civil War it was leased to D. T. Inglehart,
a Confederate surgeon, for use as a hospital. A second courthouse
was constructed in 1893
, twelve years after the incorporation of Beaumont.
Designed by E.
T. Heiner, it was a three-story red brick building with white
trim. Following the area oil boom of the 1920s it proved inadequate
to meet the needs of the growing population and was replaced by the
present brick courthouse in 1931. Designed by Fred Stone and A. Babin,
the fourteen-story building features art deco styling in the use of
sculpted ornamentation and marble interior work.
1980 |
 |
"The ultimate
potential of the skyscraper to serve as an icon of Texas government
was demonstrated in Beaumont in 1931."
Professor Jay C. Henry in Architecture in Texas 1895 - 1945
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
High-rise
courthouses are a rare item in Texas.
If you counted them on one hand; you'd still have a few fingers left
over. Just when tall buildings came into vogue, money was tight and
Art Deco was a little too flashy for counties wanting to modernize
their courthouse. Art Deco might appeal to Dallasites, but most local
governments felt that county business should be conducted under no-nonsense
clocktowers and flagpoles - and not under the gaze of fancy streamlined
eagles.
Jefferson County
has always enjoyed going a little against the grain. Besides their
tall courthouse, they are also the only county seat in Texas to have
erected a completely separate sub-courthouse (in Port
Arthur). Other counties hit by the Depression had to forgo courthouse
replacements, but Beaumonts oil reserves
made the future look bright and Beaumonters were eager to add to the
impressive collection of downtown buildings they had been busily erecting
in the twenties.
They may have looked eastward to Baton Rouge at what would become
Huey P. Long's beautiful monument to himself (AKA The Louisiana State
Capitol) or they may have looked westward at the plans for the still-to-be-built
San
Jacinto monument. |
 |
Jefferson
County Courthouse close up view
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
| The
Deco details of the courthouse include carved limestone vignettes
of lumbermen, farmers, oilmen and cowboys at work. Work was a wonderful
thing to celebrate now that so many people had the time to sit around
and miss it. |
Details over
the windows on the side of the east wing
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
Deco Texano
TE photo 9-04 |
Deco Eagle Detail
TE photo 9-04 |
Main Entrance
TE photo 9-04 |
|
|
Details
and Texture
TE photo 9-04 |
One of the flagpole
bases.
TE photo 9-04 |
Even from the
tracks, the building retains its dignity
TE Photo 9-04 |
Cow
skull and oil derrick detail
TE photo 9-04 |
Along with all
of the intricate carvings, there are sayings carved near the roof
on the front and back of the east and west wings. The ones on the
front read : "Wisdom Justice Power - Guardians of the Law" and "Equity
and Utility - Foundations of the Law" The ones on the back read: "Let
the Public Good Be Served" and "Let Liberty Be Regulated By Law"
- Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 photos |
The carved dedication
over the front entrance reads as follows: "In the fullness of our
county's happiness and prosperity is erected this building dedicated
to the affairs of all her citizens."
- Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 photos |
The 317th District
Courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
More courtroom
details
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
The 500 acres that comprise downtown Beaumont
are sprinkled with Deco details. A few block away the First National
Bank Building (c.1937) on Orleans Street has more work-related carvings,
and the Federal building has artistic longhorn skulls carved over
all entrances. The Kyle
Block (the 200 block of Orleans Street) is a rare example of Zigzag
Deco.
The closest design to the brick Jefferson County courthouse could
very well be the much shorter stone courthouse
for Eastland County in Eastland,
Texas. |
Jefferson
County Courthouse
TE photo 9-04 |
| In
comparing this courthouse to the famous Nebraska State Capitol, Professor
Henry states: "The detailing is skillfully handled to emphasize the
vertical proportions, but this courthouse seems more related to commercial
skyscrapers of the late 1920s [than to the Nebraska Capitol Building].
|
The modern Jefferson
County courthouse was built in 1981 out of pink granite. The design
comes from the White Budd Van Ness Partnership.
- Terry
Jeanson, December 2007 |
The 1893 Jefferson
County Courthouse
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
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