Travis County Courthouse
Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse | |
---|---|
PWA Moderne | |
Location | 1000 Guadalupe St. Austin, Texas 78701 |
Coordinates | 30°16′23″N 97°44′42″W / 30.273°N 97.745°W |
Named for | Heman Marion Sweatt |
Opened | June 27, 1931 |
Renovated | 1958, 1962 |
Owner | Travis County, Texas |
Height | 104 feet (32 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 6 |
Floor area | 125,000 square feet (11,600 m2) |
Lifts/elevators | 2 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Page Brothers |
Main contractor | H.E. Wattinger |
The Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse is the
History
Travis County's first purpose-built courthouse was a modest two-story stone structure built in 1855 near Republic Square in downtown Austin. This courthouse was replaced by a larger building in 1876 and was eventually demolished in 1906. The second Travis County Courthouse was a three-story limestone building designed in a monumental Second Empire style, built along the south side of the Texas State Capitol. The county's needs outgrew this building, too, and in 1931 it was replaced by the current courthouse, after which it was used as office space for Texas state agencies and then finally demolished in 1964.[1]
In 1930 the county selected a site on the north side of Wooldridge Park for the building of a third and larger county courthouse. Construction began with the laying of the cornerstone in 1930;[1] on June 27, 1931, the courthouse was completed and had its grand opening, and the county's courts and offices moved in from the previous courthouse building.[2] As the county continued to grow, substantial additions to the facility were made in 1958 and 1962.[1][3]
Jail
When the courthouse opened in 1931 it did so with a
In December 1972, twelve inmates brought suit against the county, alleging that the conditions in the then 280-person jail on the top two floors of the courthouse constituted cruel and unusual punishment.[6][7][8] On July 31, 1974, Federal District Judge Jack Roberts wrote an opinion stating that county commissioners "have failed to meet their responsibilities in providing a safe and suitable jail for Travis County".[9] On December 9, 1978, Travis County voters approved an $8.5 million bond package for a new jail.[10]
Construction on the new jail began in 1981, and Travis County officially took ownership of the new jail in 1986 after costs had ballooned to more than $21 million.[11] On October 21, 1988, US Magistrate Judge Stephen Capelle ordered the old jail closed by December 1990,[12][13] however, the jail wound up being retired early, on April 6, 1990.[14]
Coincidentally, the lawsuit that ultimately resulted in the closure of the jail was filed the same year as Ruiz v. Estelle, whose plaintiff, Austinite David Ruiz, alleged cruel and unusual punishment in the TDCJ Wynne Unit of Huntsville, Texas[15]
Replacement efforts
In the early 2010s, as population growth in Travis County continued to strain the courthouse's capacity, the county made plans to replace the 1931 courthouse with a new, still larger facility. Officials selected a county-owned downtown lot near the site of the first county courthouse, and on August 18, 2015, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted to propose a $287 million municipal bond issuance to fund a new courthouse complex.[2] In the November 2015 general election, however, the bond measure was rejected by Travis County voters, and the county instead enacted a "preservation master plan" in January 2016 to provide for necessary repairs to the existing courthouse.[16]
After the defeat of the courthouse bond, the county began pursuing ownership of the 1936 United States Courthouse that had recently been left vacant by the completion of a new federal courthouse complex.[17] At a press conference on December 29, 2016, officials from Travis County and the federal judiciary and local U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett announced that ownership of the old federal courthouse had been transferred to Travis County.[18] The county then budgeted $28 million to bring the structure up to current building codes and adapt it to house the county probate courts by 2020.[19]
On July 10, 2018, Travis County entered a negotiation agreement with developers to design and build a new downtown court facility,[20] and on January 15, 2019, the county approved funding for the project.[21] Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 31, 2019, with the new facility scheduled for completion in 2022.[22]
Namesake
In 1946, an African-American law student named
After the state established a temporary "School of Law of the Texas State University for Negroes," the district court found that the state had fulfilled its constitutional obligations to Sweatt; Sweatt appealed his suit to the
Architecture
The Travis County Courthouse is a six-story steel-and-concrete building
Exterior
The original main entry (now closed for security reasons) is in the east facade, where a staircase leads from street level up to bronze doors within a projecting doorframe, with an elaborately carved lintel depicting a judge releasing shackled prisoners to a celebrating crowd. The windows in the building's central mass are joined into five recessed vertical window bays, with decorative cast-iron spandrels between the windows and pilasters running vertically between bays. The facade was originally symmetrical north and south, but large expansions to the north side (added during renovations in 1958 and 1962) now give the building a lopsided silhouette.[1]
Interior
The building's interior exhibits
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Courthouse". Travis County Archives. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ^ a b c King, Michael (September 18, 2015). "To Build a Courthouse". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116165343/courthouse-renovation-nears-end/
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116164857/travis-county-officials-have-now-moved-i/
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116164954/new-jail-available-in-week-or-10-days/
- ^ Mayes, Dave (December 16, 1972). "12 County Inmates Charge 'Cruel, Unusual Punishment'". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Mayes, Dave (December 16, 1972). "12 County Inmates Charge 'Cruel, Unusual Punishment' (continued)". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Sutton, John (December 9, 1978). "Light turnout foreseen for $8.5 million jail bond issue". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Sutton, John (August 1, 1974). "Jail Expansion Could Clear Up Deficiencies". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ "Inmate charges sexual attacks in county jail". Austin American-Statesman. December 13, 1978. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Vlerebome, Peggy (May 14, 1986). "Travis made official owner of county jail". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Garcia, Jr., Arnold (October 22, 1988). "Old county jail closing set for end of 1990". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Garcia, Jr., Arnold (October 22, 1988). "Old county jail closing set for end of 1990 (continued)". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116210554/county-ready-for-old-jails-retirement/
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116212519/jail-stands-empty-after-years-of-turbule/
- ^ Weldon, Kelli (January 5, 2016). "Travis County courthouse preservation master plan moves forward". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ Findell, Elizabeth (May 24, 2016). "Travis County moves to sell proposed courthouse site, find new options". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ a b Goldenstein, Taylor (December 29, 2016). "Travis County gets old federal courthouse for probate court expansion". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ King, Michael (December 29, 2016). "Travis County Catches a Judicial Break". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ Buchanan, Taylor Jackson (August 30, 2018). "Negotiations now underway for Travis County's civil and family courts facility". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ Buchanan, Taylor Jackson (December 11, 2018). "Travis County will borrow up to $328.5 million for new civil and family courts facility". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- KXAN. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
External links
Media related to Travis County Courthouse at Wikimedia Commons