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The Courthouses
of Eugene Heiner
(1852-1901)
by Johnny Stucco |
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Portrait
of Eugene T. Heiner
Photo courtesy Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus, Texas |
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| A
New
Yorker by birth, Eugene T. Heiner came into the world on August 20,
1852 in NYC. At the tender age of thirteen, he was apprenticed to
a Chicago architect. He moved to Dallas
in 1877, and arrived in Houston in 1878. Houston
was where he would spend the rest of his short (but prolific) life.
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| Heiner
is remembered mostly for his jails and courthouses. After his first
jail contract (Galveston)
he went on to do a dozen more - including Harris, Tarrant and the
still-standing Gonzales
County jail. |
| In
the late 1880s Heiner designed several buildings at Texas A & M University
at College
Station as well as the Brazos
County Courthouse in nearby Bryan.
One building at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville
was designed by Heiner and several commercial buildings in Galveston.
The bulk of his work was close to home in Harris County. Heiner occasionally
designed private houses - including the home of Charles S. House and
that of Thomas H. Scanlan. |
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The
1893 Jefferson County Courthouse
designed by architect Eugene Heiner
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
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Notable
Buildings By Heiner:
Jails:
Galveston County Jail, 1878
Harris County Jail, 1890*
Tarrant County Jail
Gonzales County
Jail |
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The Henry
Brashear Building (1882), a Heiner building in downtown Houston
at 910 Prairie Avenue
TE photo
2-2005
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Cotton Exchange,
Houston, 1884
W. L. Foley Building, Houston 1889
Henry Brashear Building 1882
W. House Bank, Houston 1889
Houston High School, 1894
Houston Ice and Brewing Company, 1893*
Sweeney and Coombs Opera House, Houston 1890 |
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All
that remains of the builing above - the Brazos County Courthouse
Cornerstone
TE photo, 2-2005 |
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An Incomplete
List of Heiner Courthouses:
Austin
County Courthouse, Bellville, 1888 (burned 1960)
Brazoria
County Courthouse, Angleton, 1897 (now a library)
Brazos
County Courthouse, Bryan, 1892*
Colorado
County Courthouse, Columbus, 1891
Falls County Courthouse, Marlin,
1888*
Jasper County
Courthouse, Jasper (Altered)
Jefferson
County Courthouse, Beaumont, 1893*
Lavaca
County Courthouse, Hallettsville, 1897
Runnels
County Courhouse, Ballinger 1889 (Altered)
Wharton
County Courthouse, Wharton, 1889 (restored 2005-2006)
*Razed |
| Eugene
T. Heiner was a founding member of the Texas State Association of
Architects in 1886. He died in Houston on April 26, 1901 and is buried
in Houston's Glenwood
Cemetery - within sight of downtown Houston. A historical marker
has recently been erected over his grave. |
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The
Heiner Gravesite and the recently erected historical marker
TE photo 2-2005 |
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