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Courthouse Square Buildings

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1871–1920. Bounded by W. Central and W. Grand aves. and N. Houston and N. Austin sts.

Comanche’s spacious courthouse square, lined mostly with one- and two-story structures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is largely intact. The three-story tan brick Masonic Building (1910) at 100 W. Central is the tallest, with upper floors articulated by rusticated brick pilasters and a vigorously stepped parapet. The former Comanche National Bank (1891; 134 W. Central) is the square’s most distinguished building, with a chamfered-corner entrance on Tuscan columns, red stuccoed walls, stone stringcourses and cornice, and arched windows in groups of two and three.

The tall one-story Higginbotham Bros. and Co. Building (c. 1919) at 101 N. Houston, still in family ownership, is three lots in width, with recessed entrances and a continuous upper facade attractively decorated with Spanish motifs and a red barrel-tile coping. The one-story Economic Development Corporation Building (115 W. Grand) has a complete Mesker Brothers storefront, including cast-iron pilasters and metal cornice and pediment. The date of “1871” on the pediment must refer to an earlier core structure, as this pressed metal work was not available for another twenty years. The two-story former bank (c. 1900) at 101 W. Grand combines first-floor metal storefront pilasters (Moore Iron Works, Fort Worth), detailed brickwork on the second floor, and a metal cornice and pediment. The building’s corner has been altered.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Courthouse Square Buildings", [Comanche, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-FC34.

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, 297-297.

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