Travis County Courthouse (Austin)
Architect: Page Brothers, Architects (also known as C. H. Page & Bro.).
Year Built: 1930.
The Travis County Courthouse is located in downtown Austin, just west of the Texas Capitol.
In 1930 a site for the new Courthouse was selected adjacent to the north end of Wooldridge Park, on 10th and Guadalupe streets. Wooldridge Park was the first park in the city of Austin and one of the four town squares designated in the original 1839 town plans. The cornerstone was laid in 1930 and the Courthouse was completed the following year. The structure was built to house all county offices, with the top two floors used as the County Jail.
Designed in the “Moderne” style by Page Bros. Architects, and built by H.E. Wattinger Contractors, the 1931 Courthouse broke with the classical design elements of the past.
As originally designed and built, the Courthouse was a refined, symmetrical building, with bronze entrance doors on all four sides. By the 1950s, however, the county was already outgrowing the courthouse. More space was needed, so significant additions were constructed in 1958 and again in 1962. The main entrance at the east end of the second floor has since been closed due to security needs, as has the entrance facing Wooldridge Park.
As more courtrooms have been crowded into the building, one of the original main courtrooms has lost its high ceiling, but the hope remains to preserve and restore the Courthouse as a significant piece of architecture and as a focal point for the life of the community.
In March of 2005, a plaque was installed outside the Travis County Courthouse in honor of Heman Marion Sweatt, a civil rights pioneer who successfully challenged the policy of segregation at the University of Texas Law School. On October 21, 2005, Travis County renamed the Courthouse as the “Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse.”
Page Bros., Architects also designed the following Texas courthouses:
- Anderson County
- Chambers County
- Fort Bend County
- Hays County
- Hunt County
- Orange County
- Williamson County
