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Washington County Courthouse

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1939, Hedrick and Lindsley and Travis Broesche. 110 E. Main St.
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )

This, the fourth courthouse for Washington County, a late Art Moderne structure, serves as a major landmark in Brenham though it is no longer used for the county's principal business. The stylized eagles over the primary entrances and incised geometric reliefs are handsome decorative features. The contractor for the building was C. L. Browning Jr. Construction was funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) , as was Brenham's City Hall of 1939 by Travis Broesche and Hedrick and Lindsley at 210 N. Park Street.

Surrounding the courthouse, the commercial district, bounded approximately by Vulcan, Market, W. 1st, and Austin streets, is remarkably intact with fine examples of commercial architecture from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The district's earliest building is the Bassett and Bassett Building (1873) at 222 E. Main Street, constructed of brick manufactured at the locally owned Wild and Company brick plant. The Simon Theater and Store (1925) at 109 W. Main Street is the work of Houston architect Alfred C. Finn. The Santa Fe Railway Freight Depot (1925) at 214 S. Austin Street is by local designer and builder Alex Griffen.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Brenham Heritage Museum (U.S. Post Office and Federal Building)
Chase Bank (First National Bank Building)
Pampell-Day Residence
Frederick W. and Bertha R. Schuerenberg House
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Washington County Courthouse", [Brenham, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-PF5.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 79-79.

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