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Graham B. Purcell Federal Office Building (U.S. Post Office and Courthouse)

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1933, Voelcker and Dixon. 1000 Lamar St.

Herbert R. Voelcker and Jesse G. Dixon’s modernist interpretation of classicism, influenced by the work of Philadelphia architect Paul P. Cret, finds expression here in classical moldings and three-part elevations of base, fluted three-story pilasters, and entablature with a tall parapet. Steel-sash windows are stacked between the pilasters, interspersed with ornamental cast aluminum spandrels. The placement of the building up to the sidewalks on Lamar and 10th streets further emphasizes its planar qualities, with entrance only through the end bays facing Lamar. Voelcker and Dixon were well versed in classicism, but the federal influence on this project marked a shift in their work to an increasingly austere modern classicism during the 1930s.

Voelcker and Dixon also designed the Art Deco W. A. Frear Furniture Company Building (Maskat Temple [1929]) at 1100 Lamar.

Around the corner at 909 10th Street, the First United Methodist Church (1928, William Ward Watkin, with Wyatt C. Hedrick, and Charles J. Pate), the third building for Wichita Falls’s oldest religious congregation, is a Gothic Revival design in buff brick. It features three tall lancet windows on the upper facade and a dominating, buttressed, square tower.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Graham B. Purcell Federal Office Building (U.S. Post Office and Courthouse)", [Wichita Falls, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-AQ10.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 319-319.

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