The four-story courthouse faced in soft orange brick may be loosely termed classical for St. Louis–based Robert George Kirsch’s use of stringcourses, pilasters, and capitals. These elements are so simplified that a Prairie Style influence is apparent. The typical cross-axial Texas courthouse plan is here marked by the slightly projecting central bays of each facade that are defined by pilasters to give prominence to the axial entrances. Triple windows are stacked vertically in slight recesses between pilasters. Unusual features are the small pediments supported on brackets mounted within the spandrels between the third and fourth floor windows. The shallow cupola of the tower with large eyebrow clocks is almost Second Empire in form. The exterior of the courthouse was restored with funding from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.
Distinctive buildings mark the corners of the courthouse square on its west side. The First National Bank (1909, R. G. Kirsch; 400 15th Street) is a two-story buff brick building set on a limestone base. Two partially engaged columns in antis give monumentality to its modest facade. Paired second-floor windows on the 4th Avenue side almost fill the wall between the pilasters, as Kirsch had done on the courthouse. At the opposite corner, the Smith Building and Palace Hotel (1906; 420 15th) is a plain brick shell with a first-floor cast-iron storefront by Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. The commercial building next door at 414 15th also has a Mesker storefront.