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The
newly restored Comal County Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
Date
- 1898
Architect - J.
Riely Gordon
Style - Romanesque Revival
Material - LimestoneTHE
COURTHOUSES OF COMAL COUNTYby
Terry Jeanson
Comal County was founded in 1846 with New
Braunfels as its county seat, which was founded a year earlier by German immigrants.
The first county court was held on August 7, 1846 in the home of Conrad Seabaugh,
the first county clerk of Comal County. His house was on the northeast corner
of the main plaza. District court was held at the German First Protestant Church,
but the church council evicted them by April of 1847. Still searching for a permanent
place to hold court and not having any money to buy land or build a courthouse,
county officials resorted to buying two small buildings for $600 from Theodor
Sterzing which were located on S. Seguin St. between the Elks Lodge and the home
of Dr. Friedrich Frueholz. The records were moved to these buildings on August
1, 1850.
With financial help from the state legislature, the building
of Comal County’s first real courthouse began in 1857 on the southeast corner
of the main plaza. Requests made to build the courthouse in the center of the
main plaza were rejected. The courthouse, designed by William C. A. Thielepape
of San Antonio and built by
Ferdinand Simon of New Braunfels, was a two-story
rectangular building with a flat roof built with local limestone. It had corner
quoins, segmented arches over the windows and a rectangular parapet on one side.
Completed in 1859 at a cost of around $9,000, the building was officially dedicated
on April 30, 1860. In 1878, a county jail was built to the rear of the courthouse.
Designed by Texas courthouse architect F.E.
Ruffini, the building mimicked two other jails that Ruffini
designed for Collin and Robertson counties, both of which are still standing.
The 1878 jail in New Braunfels stood until 1958.
By 1897, it was thought by many that the 1860 courthouse was becoming
too dilapidated and that a new courthouse was needed. Once again requests were
made to build the courthouse in the center of the main plaza and once again they
were rejected. Instead, land was purchased on the northwest corner of the plaza
where a hotel by Samuel Millett was located. San
Antonio architect James
Riely Gordon, who had already designed several courthouses in Texas, was an
early favorite to design the courthouse, but county judge Adolph Giesecke and
the commissioners court decided to advertise for competing designs from architects
around the state. Gordon’s
design was ultimately chosen, against the objections of the county judge and August
Schulze, Jr., one of the county commissioners, who refused to have their names
put on the cornerstone. (Robert Bodemann was elected county judge in November
of 1898 and his name was put on the cornerstone.)
The courthouse was built
with local limestone with red granite steps and the Gordon
trademark of red granite columns at the arched corner entrances and second story
balconies over the south and west side entrances. The third story balconies have
a stone balustrade. Rising from the center of the building is a square tower with
tall, open archways that is tapered towards the top. The hipped, metal roofs have
decorative dormers rising from each side. The district courtroom, with curving
walls on the north and east sides, was originally two stories with balcony seating
and receding arches in a bay behind the judge’s bench. Completed in December of
1898 at a cost of $36,600, the new courthouse was officially dedicated on January
22, 1899.
In 1930-31, a three story jail and additional office space was
added to the north side of the courthouse using the same local limestone. The
original north side entrance was closed off and the district courtroom was cut
in half with the upper balcony area being transformed into office space. In 1951-52,
an addition was made to the county clerk and district offices, closing off the
original east side entrance. The Nowotny building on the west side of the courthouse
(formerly the Lenzen Hotel, built in 1901,) was sold to the county in 1963 and
turned into a temporary annex. Further renovations to the district courtroom and
the addition of an elevator and air conditioning took place at the courthouse
in 1966. In 1974, the annex was renovated. In 1976, the county installed bells
in the courthouse tower which were donated by Walter Faust, Jr. In 1985, the courthouse
annex was demolished for the construction of the current red brick annex which
was completed in 1986 and dedicated in 1987. The courthouse was renovated again
at this time.
After many years of remodels and additions and the deterioration
of antiquated plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems, the
time came to restore the courthouse. Denied funding in 2008, in 2010, Comal County
received a $3.4 million grant from the Texas Historical Commission’s Courthouse
Preservation Program towards a complete restoration of the courthouse to its 1898
condition. The 1931 and 1952 additions were demolished, reopening the original
north and east side entrances. The interior, including the two story courtroom,
was restored to its original color scheme and configuration, but with all the
modern conveniences needed for today’s courthouses. The total cost of the restoration
totaled $8.6 million. A rededication for the courthouse was held on January 22,
2013, exactly 114 years after the building’s original dedication.
Sources:
County history from The Handbook of Texas Online. Courthouse history from
the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung special centennial insert by Myra Lee Adams Goff,
January 17, 1999. Jail history from “Wanted: Historic County Jails of Texas” by
Edward A. Blackburn, Jr., 2006. |
 |
Comal
County Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
The
courthouse tower which rises to a height of 83 feet. The bells in the tower were
not installed until 1976.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
A
view of the northeast corner of the courthouse before restoration
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2010 |
During
restoration in September of 2011.
The remaining portion of the old jail is
at the right.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson |
The
restored district courtroom. According to the restoration engineers the color
is officially “dusky-rose.”
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
The
original wallpaper in the courtroom was uncovered during restoration and restored,
which included the gold highlights to give the decoration a three dimensional
look.
Photo
courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
First
floor courtroom on the north side below the district courtroom. The restored judge’s
bench is the original from 1898. A spiral staircase to the right leads up to the
district courtroom. The spiral staircase had to be reconstructed and lowered in
through the ceiling.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
Interior
hallway on the first floor by the staircase. The tile on the third floor was still
intact at the time of restoration but had to be replicated on the lower floors.
Photo
courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
The
restored north entrance. The original tile was discovered underneath a modern
flooring and restored at each entrance.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, January 2013 |
| The
1898 Comal County Courthouse designed by J.
Riely Gordon is nearly identical to Gordon's Lee
County Courthouse (1897) in Giddings.
He saved money on blueprints. The resemblance is seldom noticed since one is brick
(Lee County) and the other stone (Comal). Giddings'
is also free standing on a huge lawn while the New Braunfels building has had
an extension added. A downspout on the courthouse passes right in front of the
cornerstone obscuring Gordon's name. |
| | | Comal
County Courthouse
The design in stone
TE photo | Lee
County Courthouse in Giddings
The design in brick
TE photo |
| | Confederate
soldier
and the courthouse
TE photo | |
|
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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