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Harris County Civil Courthouse At 201 Caroline St.


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This is great news!

courts renovation to cost county $40.2 million

Plan to return building to 1910 appearance is one part of major shift

By BILL MURPHY

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Harris County plans to spend $40.2 million to restore the historic Civil Courts Building to its appearance in 1910, when it was built.

The 1st and 14th state appellate courts would move from the South Texas College of Law building to the courthouse when restoration is completed, scheduled to be summer 2008.

As part of the same plan to improve county courthouses, the Family Law Center would close in 2006 and reopen in April 2008 after a $27.9 million renovation.

Mike Yancey, head of the county's facilities and management department, will brief Commissioners Court on a master plan for the downtown county courthouse complex Tuesday. Commissioners Court would have to approve the plan before it could go forward.

During private meetings, several commissioners have voiced support for it, Yancey said.

Plans call for the Civil Courts Building's exterior to be restored to its 1910 state, while only parts of the interior would be restored

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This is great news. I hope they are able to go through with the restoration. When I was in this building last year for jury duty I was disappointed by the sad state of the interior and obvious renovations that had been done to squeeze more courtrooms into the building. It will be nice to see it returned to its original appearance.

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And this is why Houston is such a wacky town...

On the previous board, I related how Channel 2 news reported that (approximate quote) "And now that we're building a new courthouse, the old one will be torn down." This was about a year or so ago.

well, no. No. I called some people who I don't even know, and they gave courteous replies. People at the National Register of Historic Places; and they assured me that Channel 2 was wrong. They're not going to tear down this building. Forgive me if I keep mentioning Channel 2 as a source of bad news; it's because I have personal experience.

This - our- Harris County courthouse building is only one of which we Texans should be proud. Even the most humble Texas county usually has a substantial courthouse. Many of them are even nicer than our own. Whatever your particular fondness for architecture, you must admit; Texas has built some great courthouses.

The building that currently houses family courts is part of our history. More importantly it's part of our present. This is an example of tax dollars going to the right place.

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well, no. No. I called some people who I don't even know, and they gave courteous replies. People at the National Register of Historic Places; and they assured me that Channel 2 was wrong. They're not going to tear down this building. Forgive me if I keep mentioning Channel 2 as a source of bad news; it's because I have personal experience.

Kind of off-topic, but Channel 2 is also blamed for ruining business for the bagel place in Midtown. A few years ago they did one of their knock-offs of Marvin Zindler's Rat and Roach Reports, and they misstated some facts and made it seem like the place had been shut down by the health inspector. It hadn't. What happened was the inspector wanted more information on whether it was sanitary for them to keep their dough on wood instead of metal trays. But the damage was done, and Channel 2 refused to correct the story. When I moved out of Midtown, they were thinking about closing for good because it hurt their business so much.

Just one of a number of reasons to hate what they call "news" on Channel 2. "If it's happening in Houston, it's News 2 Us." If anyone wants to rant further, maybe we should start another thread.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with you about Texas courthouses, dbigtex, and I loved your post on the other board about how people used to take pride in govt. buildings, but then in the anti-communist backlash they started complaining about tax dollars being used to make something look nice.

Some of my favorite courthouses across the state:

Lockhart

Waxahachie

La Grange (undergoing restoration)

Ft. Worth

San Antonio

San Angelo

Gonzales

Hallettsville

Uvalde

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  • 3 years later...

Anyone know what's going into this space?

This is a circa 1935 Art Deco building (corner of Caroline and Dallas) that currently houses Josephine's Italian Ristorante, just to the east of Houston Pavillions. The paint has been stripped off the corner unit, revealing the original concrete walls and (on the Dallas side) wooden windowsills.

Can't find anything listed in TABC permits, although it appears that it may be a bar/restaurant.

Glad to see that this beautiful building apparently has a few good years left in it.

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Anyone know what's going into this space?

This is a circa 1935 Art Deco building (corner of Caroline and Dallas) that currently houses Josephine's Italian Ristorante, just to the east of Houston Pavillions. The paint has been stripped off the corner unit, revealing the original concrete walls and (on the Dallas side) wooden windowsills.

so there was not a sushi place there anymore?

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Glad to see that this beautiful building apparently has a few good years left in it.

Beautiful indeed, and worthy of a pic or two in the afternoon. Low rise old buildings being rehabbed in DT, or anywhere in Houston for that matter, seem fragile and temporary, like diseased patients in remission.

7w8aloi.jpg

72abl6o.jpg

71loztz.jpg

The details are well preserved and well worth preserving and the location across from Pavilions is promissing.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
It used to be a Sushi/Japanese restaurant. Started with an "M" I think.

Whew, for a second I thought the bar was going in where Josephine's is located. I ate at the Japanese place once. It was okay, but too isolated of a location in my opinion. Only a Houston original like Josephine's could survive there.

It will be great to have a bar across the street from the HOB to "pre-game" before a show. Hopefully the bar will be bigger than the restaurant that precedes it.

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Hopefully the bar will be bigger than the restaurant that precedes it.

There's no room to grow there since Josephine's is basically the whole building.

EDIT: quote from downtown resident "Yet "another" place trying to sound intriguing, in hopes of building an e-mail database. Pretentious."

Edited by musicman
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  • 1 month later...
I know this is old....but did this ever happen? I walked by it earlier and there were still broken windows and it was not in good shape.

That is because it is in the midst of the renovation. All of the subsequent add-ons and renovations had to be ripped out first, leaving a bombed out look. The renovation has been on-going for about a year.

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  • 8 months later...

Anyone know the latest news on this project? I'm assuming its been put on hold due to the current economic climate. I was walking around looking at this building the other day and was thinking if I had fantasy money it would be a great place to buy and remodel and build some sort of wedding chapel and reception hall with a large ballroom and suites etc. You could turn the top floors into apartments. Just some lunchtime day dreaming...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Anyone know the latest news on this project? I'm assuming its been put on hold due to the current economic climate. I was walking around looking at this building the other day and was thinking if I had fantasy money it would be a great place to buy and remodel and build some sort of wedding chapel and reception hall with a large ballroom and suites etc. You could turn the top floors into apartments. Just some lunchtime day dreaming...

My understanding was that this was funded as part of the bond issue for the new courthouse so I don't know what the delay is. I walk by often and haven't seen activity in a long time -- well over a year.

This block can only be used as a courthouse. The Allen brothers granted it to the city for use of a courthouse and if the city tries to do otherwise, they will lose the property. Judge Eckels attempted to get the Harris County administrative offices moved there but was denied because, despite being Harris County Judge, it wouldn't satisfy the Allen brothers grant. The city decided the best way to use the building was to move the courts of appeals there, thereby keeping the land for the city.

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  • 2 weeks later...

yea, i worked for a company called BASIC, we did demolition for the building, knocked down walls, cleaned all the black gunk off the outside of the building, that was some work, its absolutley beautiful at the tip top of the building, we had scaffolds all the way to the dome, we could touch the eagles, watch the Stros play at night, but when we started night shifts, that place gave me the creeps, they told stories that a lot of african americans were hung either inside the courthouse on the top floor or outside on one of those oak trees, and i always felt like someone was staring at me, it was strongest on the 3rd floor, but we did a lot of work on that building, i can say now that i was part of downtowns renovation

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  • 5 years later...

A lot of the elements of the proposal ended up on the final building - see http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Building/2072/Congress-Plaza.php

 

The bottom dropped out of the Houston economy in 1984 - the reason this got built at all was because of the county's needs.

 

FWIW, I agree that the flat dome on top of the civil courthouse is one of the most awkward details on a building that has a bunch of them.  The dome was added at the behest of the judges on the design committee (one judge in particular was rather proud of it).  As a side note, that building was also designed with gargantuan file rooms and an elaborate dumbwaiter system to deal with what had been one of the more persistent problems in the prior quarters - paper files literally everywhere.  As it opened, electronic filing came on line (and is now mandatory), leaving those eagerly anticipated miles of shelves...empty.

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A lot of the elements of the proposal ended up on the final building - see http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Building/2072/Congress-Plaza.php

 

The bottom dropped out of the Houston economy in 1984 - the reason this got built at all was because of the county's needs.

 

FWIW, I agree that the flat dome on top of the civil courthouse is one of the most awkward details on a building that has a bunch of them.  The dome was added at the behest of the judges on the design committee (one judge in particular was rather proud of it).  As a side note, that building was also designed with gargantuan file rooms and an elaborate dumbwaiter system to deal with what had been one of the more persistent problems in the prior quarters - paper files literally everywhere.  As it opened, electronic filing came on line (and is now mandatory), leaving those eagerly anticipated miles of shelves...empty.

Please don't get me started on the Civil courthouse...

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Funny thing about the civil courthouse - while the outside deserves all the oppobrium it gets (I've called it banal and derivative), it functions very well.  The courtrooms are a good size, well laid out, and are well equipped and well appointed, as are the staff areas and judges' chambers.  There are four courtrooms per floor, one for each quadrant, with the lower district numbers on the lower floors and then up in numerical order. 

 

Before it was built, the civil courts were spread around among up to four or five different buildings, with a wide variation in quality among the facilities.  I've seen bigger closets than some of the jury rooms that used to be in the 1910 building, and clerks' offices were sometimes on a different floor, or accessible only through the courtroom.  Every time a bench became vacant there was a bit of a reshuffle, usually with the newest judge being exiled to the Cotton Exchange Building.  So overall it's an improvement, cringeworthy fake dome notwithstanding.

 

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Because something this trite surely deserves its own Crater Houston Alliance topic. This is one that I love to hate on, since it is so trite and cheesy.  It would be nice in Des Moines, say, or Dubuque, but no aspiring world-class city should ever throw up something like this.  Throw up on it, that's a different matter.  

 

 

Look!  A star!

Harris-County-Civil-Courthouse-top-floor

 

 

Exquisite proportions!

HarrisCountyCivilJusticeCenter-Jan08-008

 

 

Fine detailing!

NewCivilCenter.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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