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Travis County Courthouse

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1930, Page Brothers. 1000 Guadalupe St.
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )
  • (The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

These two buildings constitute the center of county government. The 1930 building is one of Texas's most impressive and intact Art Moderne county courthouses. It retains its original fossilized shell limestone exterior, ornate metal window coverings, exterior metal lanterns, stylized geometric carvings, and an allegorical scene carved in relief in the entrance pediments of the release of rehabilitated prisoners (who were originally incarcerated in the jail on the top floor). The five-story annex to the north (1975, Barnes Landes Goodman Youngblood) is a more severe Moderne addition that repeats the fossilized limestone, fenestration, and the spandrel panel rhythm yet none of the exuberant carved decoration. The annex has a brise soleil on the fifth floor that screens the jail.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Central Christian Church
Austin History Center (Austin Public Library)
Governor's Mansion
Hirschfeld Complex
Westgate

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Travis County Courthouse", [Austin, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-AU6.

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