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The
Courthouses of Eugene Heiner
(1852-1901) by
Johnny Stucco |
| | Portrait
of Eugene T. Heiner
Photo courtesy Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus,
Texas | | | |
| 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. |
| 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. |
Notable
Buildings By Heiner:Jails:
Galveston County Jail, 1878
Harris County Jail, 1890*
Tarrant County Jail
Gonzales
County Jail |
| | The
Henry Brashear Building (1882), a Heiner building in downtown Houston at 910 Prairie
Avenue
TE
photo 2-2005 | | | |
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 |
| | All
that remains of the builing above - the Brazos County Courthouse Cornerstone
TE photo, 2-2005 | |
| |
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. |
| | The
Heiner Gravesite and the recently erected historical marker
TE photo 2-2005 |
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