Designed by W.C. Dodson in
National Register Text
| The Hood County Courthouse,
together with the surrounding Victorian commercial structures, present one
of the most complete nineteenth century courthouse squares in Texas.
Dominated by the Second Empire style courthouse built in 1893, the square is
lined with one and two-story native limestone buildings, built mainly in the
late nineteenth century. A few commercial structures completed the rows of
buildings in the early twentieth century, but they all conform to the
architectural unity of the town square.
Designed by W. C. Dodson, a Waco architect, the courthouse was constructed in 1890-91. The three-story, limestone structure, patterned after the popular French Second Empire style, possesses a basic composition that Dodson had previously used in the county courthouses of Lampasas (1883), Parker (1885), and Hill (1890). The scheme is composed of a five-part plan: a projecting entrance pavilion, two mansard-roofed pavilions, and two recesses on each facade of the building. A three-story clock tower rises from the center of the roof with the first and top story treated as convex Mansard roofs. The rectilinear middle element has a three-part Venetian window with elaborate semicircular molded architraves. Attached pilasters and quoins embellish the corners of the projecting pavilions in addition to boldly framing the arched entrances. |