Bexar County Courthouse

San Antonio, Texas

Construction on this courthouse began in 1891 and was completed 5 years later. Citizens of Bexar County authorized the sale of $621,000 in bonds to fund the construction of the courthouse, an amount greater than the cost of many other Texas courthouses of the period by an order of magnitude. The courthouse was designed by James Riely Gordon in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building is constructed from Texas red sandstone and granite and features a distinct Moorish-inspired beehive dome on the top of the northeast tower. Expansions in 1914 and 1926 maintained the Richardsonian Romanesque style, but expansions in 1963 and 1970 deviated from the historic style and building materials. These latter two additions were removed in 2014, restoring the courthouse to its architecturally cohesive state as it existed in 1926. It remains the largest and oldest actively used courthouse in Texas.