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Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Texas » Laredo (Webb County) » U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Customs House

U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Customs House

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1907, James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury; 1935 addition, Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury. 1300–1320 Matamoros St.
  • (The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
  • (The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Jarvis Plaza was a prime location to establish a federal presence in Laredo. As a midsize city with an emerging economy, Laredo was targeted for the construction of this federal facility to be a trendsetting architectural landmark for the community. Located on the former site of the Jarvis house, the Beaux-Arts courthouse is centered on a landscaped block. Grand in scale and palatial in appearance, the three-story symmetrical limestone building includes a deeply recessed two-story central Doric portico. The seven-bay rear addition of 1935 doubled the size of the building, which today still houses the post office and federal district court.

On the south side of the plaza, the Post-modern, block-long Jarvis Plaza Transportation Center (1998), at 1301–1319 Farragut Street, by Ashley, Humphries and Sánchez, incorporates a large bus facility indicating Laredo's singular position as a transfer point for passengers to and from Mexico. The center is enlivened by fountains, landscaping, seating areas, and street vendors.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Hamilton Seniors Residence (Hamilton Hotel)
St. Peter's Historic District
U.S. Courthouse
Plaza Theater
Webb County Courthouse

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Customs House", [Laredo, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-LA12.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 272-272.

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