Court House

Court House The Centre and Mills Buildings are both great examples of what El Paso can do to its historical buildings, instead of letting them rot away. But not all historic buildings actually make it. At some point they are either demolished, fall prey to a fire, and in some cases, are distastefully renovated, destroying their historic worth. Popular cities known for their great city life require great downtown areas. They tend to require the basic spaces in which people can live, shop, eat and stay entertained. El Paso does provide all of this and more, except they are scattered throughout the borderland. The time period in which the small town of El Paso Del Norte was the crown jewel of the southwest seems long ago. Although, the grandiose architecture that was once part of this small town is hard to replicate or even imagine. One of these extinct buildings is the El Paso County Courthouse, which was completed on January 20, 1886. It contained predominately renaissance inspired architecture. This three-story structure held both the city and federal offices at the time. This empire-style square structure contained symmetrical magnificence with beautiful intricacy in its detail. The building had a central dome along with semi-circle windows, accompanied by impressive towers at each end of the building. The county courthouse was held together by the striking stone quoins at each of its corners. It also held rooms with 15-foot ceilings containing pine and dark maple in the floors and walls. Sadly, this building met its end in 1917, when it was demolished due to its lack of upkeep and a small stove-fire blaze. The city of El Paso commissioned and completed its successor, known as the Trost Courthouse. This Revival-style courthouse held its own sense of grandeur, with 12 centralized, colossal, ionic ordered columns. This new city-county courthouse also held a 29,000-seat auditorium that was known as Liberty Hall. http://newspapertree.com/articles/2013/10/18/glorious-structures-what-once-was-in-downtown-el-paso

Area: Central / Downtown

Collection: Gertrude Fitzgerald Photographs

Source: University of Texas at El Paso Library - Special Collections Department

Reference ID: PH025-3-1-047

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History