The Harris County 1910 Courthouse

Harris County 1910 Courthouse

I had an occasion to be in downtown Houston on Tuesday night and I decided to photograph the 1910 Harris County Courthouse on San Jacinto and Prairie. It was close to 10PM so there were not a lot of people walking in front of the courthouse.

I used a Nikon D3s with a 28mm PC lens on a Gitzo tripod which allowed me to eliminate the curves in the sides prevalent in wide angle shots. The image was captured on RAW format so I adjusted the White Balance for how it appeared to me at the time of the photo. The exposure was at f/16 at 1.5 seconds with ISO at 200.

This is one of the 60 courthouses that have been restored by the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program of the Texas Historical Commission.The courthouse is an example of the Beaux Arts style of architecture that was prevalent in the early 1900's.  It was designed by Charles E. Barglebaugh who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. The firm was Lang, Winchell & Barglebaugh of Dallas.

The original construction cost was $500,000 in 1910.  It was renovated in 1954 which altered the interior and covered much of the original details. I had an occasion to testify in a traffic accident lawsuit in 1976 when it was the civil courts building.  It was a really dark building on the inside because of the lowered ceilings. The restoration really changed the interior.

The 1910 Harris County Courthouse was rededicated in 2011 after the completion of a $65,000,000 capital campaign over several years.  The campaign restored the building to its former splendor.

You can see a short video about the courthouse at:
http://houston.culturemap.com/news/realestate/09-12-12-restored-to-glory-by-a-65-million-makeover-the-historic-harris-county-courthouse-becomes-a-movie-star/