{"nrhp_refnum":"75001998","name":"Lee County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bounded by Hempstead, Grimes, E. Richmond, and Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Giddings","county":"Lee County","state":"TX","lat":30.181487513000036,"lon":-96.93699380899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story red brick county courthouse in Giddings, Lee County, Texas, designed in 1898 by J. Riely Gordon and built in 1898-99 by Sonnefield, Emmins and Abright of San Antonio.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a fine example of a nineteenth-century Texas courthouse and of Gordon's version of Richardsonian Romanesque. Gordon was a prominent Texas courthouse architect of the 1890s. The building has had only minor alterations and is still used as the courthouse.","narrative":"Lee County's courthouse in Giddings, Texas, occupies a block surrounded by homes rather than the commercial buildings found around most Texas courthouse squares. J. Riely Gordon designed it in 1898, and the San Antonio firm of Sonnefield, Emmins and Abright built it for a bid of $32,270. It was received by the county commissioners in June 1899. The cruciform red brick building sits on a limestone base and is trimmed with white limestone arches and blue granite columns and steps. Quarter-circular galleries and bays, hipped roofs, gabled dormers and a square clock tower give it a varied massing in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The tower lacks the pyramidal roof Gordon typically used. It replaced a Second Empire courthouse from 1878 that burned in 1897, and it stands on the same site. Inside, the ground floor has multicolored marble tile, and the district courtroom has a stamped metal ceiling. The building remains in use as the courthouse with only minor changes.","period_of_significance":"1898-99","architect_builder":"J. Riely Gordon (architect); Sonnefield, Emmins and Abright of San Antonio (builder)","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as the county courthouse; only minor alterations, such as removal of the iron fence and replacement of slate shingles with sheet metal simulating shingles.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.106272-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/9728/40972825/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/75001998.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001998/2b968408a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001998/2b968408a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lee_county_texas_courthouse_2014.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lee_county_texas_courthouse_2014.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972825","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_County_Courthouse_(Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55887794"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/lee-county/lee-county-courthouse-75001998/"}