#TBT: Nueces County Courthouse was state showpiece in 1914

Unrealized potential or decaying eyesore, the opinions on the 1914 Nueces County Courthouse in downtown Corpus Christi run the gamut. But back in 1914, the structure was an admired showpiece of the state’s architecture.

The new courthouse’s design was neoclassical, a popular look for courthouses around Texas. Designed by Harvey L. Page of Washington, D.C., and built by the Gordon-Kruger Construction Company, the new courthouse cost $250,000. The five-story structure was completed in early February 1915 and took less than a year to build. Four statues perched above the entrance of the courthouse, representing the four cardinal virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude. The jail occupied the fourth and fifth floors, with courtrooms and offices on the lower floors. There was an air space built in between the third and fourth floors to reduce noise.

“Modern architecture is seen to abound in the new courthouse; the massive structure is a credit to the hand of man; one is dazzled as he looks at the tall columns over the doorway,” wrote the Caller.

The courthouse was built on the same block as the original two courthouses from 1853 and 1875. Some articles from the time indicated authorities thought they may be able to sell the buildings, to be disassembled and moved elsewhere, but records only indicate the buildings were torn down.

The new courthouse was built with a gallows and trap door to carry out hangings, but those were never used. The state took over executions before the gallows was ever needed.

The most enduring story of the courthouse came early in the building’s lifespan. When the 1919 hurricane swept through downtown with a 16-foot storm surge, the courthouse’s brick and stone structure became a solid refuge as the wooden buildings downtown were pummeled by water and debris.

More: #TBT: Nueces County's first courthouse built in 1853

More than 2,500 people made their way to the courthouse throughout that night to shelter from the storm. When the waters receded and the grim task of identifying the dead came, the courthouse’s basement became the makeshift morgue where the oil-covered bodies were placed in hopes of identification. Just over 50 bodies were brought in before they had to stop because conditions became too unsanitary.

After 40 years of service, the courthouse needed updates and repairs. The county held a bond election in 1957, asking for $2.7 million in funds for remodeling. Voters said no, later telling the county judge that they preferred either a completely new courthouse, or one in a new location.

The county scraped by with what it could, repurposing and shuffling offices and rooms. In the 1960s, workers renovating came across forgotten rooms and hidey-holes, including an empty 7-foot by 9-foot room under a stairway in 1960, (“We found no skeletons,” remarked courthouse building superintendent Leslie Chappell), and a two-and-a-half-foot hole under the main courthouse steps that contained tarpaper, construction debris, a 1937 copy of the Corpus Christi Caller, a taxidermied diamondback rattlesnake and more than 2,400 pre-1900 (empty) antique liquor bottles.

The county came back to the voters in 1972, this time with a strong case for a new courthouse. In June chunks of masonry had begun falling from the building’s façade. The pieces fell from the fourth and fifth floors, crushing an air conditioning unit, breaking a window and scattering debris on some employees' desks. Nothing like several thousand pounds of terracotta and brick crashing to the ground to advertise your bond election. In September, the voters approved a $14.5 million bond for a new courthouse and jail. In 1976, the 1914 courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The county selected a new site on Leopard Street for the new courthouse and in August 1977, offices moved to the new location. In 1978, the Texas Historical Commission placed a deed covenant on the old building, marking it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and preventing its demolition until 2018.

Since 1977, the courthouse has cycled through a long list of developers who have attempted to start renovating the structure. But all have failed to come to fruition, generally because of the exorbitant cost to work on an aging building that wasn’t maintained. In 2002, the county accepted an emergency courthouse restoration grant for $1.9 million from the Texas Historical Commission, which pushed any possible demolition until 2027. So the 1914 courthouse waits, continuing its quiet vigil over downtown.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: #TBT: The 1914 Nueces County Courthouse was architectural masterpiece