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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » East Texas » Tyler to Kilgore » Athens (Henderson County) » Henderson County Courthouse

Henderson County Courthouse

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1914, L. L. Thurmon and Co. 100 E. Tyler St.

Athens was established as the seat of Henderson County in 1850, four years after the county was formed. This, the fourth courthouse, is a red brick, three-story, classical scheme on a raised basement, with a cross-axial plan, expressed by four porticoes, each with four Tuscan columns and steep pediments. The wings between the porticos, however, project at angles, giving the courthouse an “X”-shaped massing. The small ribbed dome has virtually no drum, making it hidden at the near distance by the pediments.

The former Henderson County Jail (1925; 201 E. Larkin Street) now houses the Henderson County Historical Commission. Dallas-based H. A. Overbeck designed the two-story, dark red brick structure. The crenellated parapet is a remnant of the medieval castle mode typically used for jails in previous decades. The jail was used until 1991.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

The Henderson County Historical Museum (Faulk and Gauntt Building)

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Henderson County Courthouse", [Athens, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-TK23.

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, 67-68.

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