Saturday, June 03, 2006

Don't Mess With a Texas Courthouse

Officials in Crane County Receive a Message from the Texas Historical Commission

Officials in Crane are taking a second look at recent improvements that were made to the county’s courthouse. Since October, a series of renovations have been made to the 58-year-old structure.

The Texas Historical Commission recently informed the county that the changes violated its codes. The county is looking at a $198,000 bill to fix it.

Most prominent among the violations was the addition of a pitched metal roof over the courthouse’s existing flat roof, said Lyman Labry, a regional architect with the commission. “That was a fairly substantial alteration to the appearance of the courthouse,” Labry said. Also at issue were changes with façade tile over the building’s main entry. Labry said existing tile was covered with ceramic tile of a different size and color.

Crane County has been given six months to a year to remove pitch groove from the roof and change the color of the tile, Labry said.

Read full article in the Odessa American, June 3, 2006

Crane County Court House, 1950s photo from Texas Old Photos