Year Built: 1884-86
Architect: Dodson & Dudley
The Parker County Courthouse is located in Weatherford, Texas.
“The Parker County Courthouse is an eye-catcher. Its tall central tower and four corner pavilions with handsome mansard roofs are a naive and charming version of the French Second Empire style in architecture.
“The present courthouse is the fourth and was built in 1884-1886 for a cost of $55,555.55. The architect was W. C. Dodson, at that time in partnership with a man named Dudley. Dodson was the architect for at least five other Texas courthouses, two of them, the courthouses of Hill and Hood counties – both built in 1890, with central towers that duplicate this one in Weatherford.
“A three-story limestone courthouse with fourth-story attics and a central tower that adds three additional stories. The building is square in plan with four identical facades, each facade divided into five bays by the shallow projection of the central and end pavilions. The end pavilions are surmounted by prominent convex mansard roofs each with four dormers with pedimented architraves above arched windows. The central pavilions have gables and the eaves of the building are bracketed with irregularly spaced brackets of two sizes.”
From the National Register listing narrative
Scene of many noted trials. Built 1884-86. Cost $55,555.55. Fourth courthouse in history of county, organized 1856. An oak on Fort Belknap Road was court site that year. In this building practiced S.W.T. Lanham, who was Governor of Texas 1902-1906. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.
