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Before you go to your county courthouse, view these videos!

How to Change Your Name

How to Get Your Name Changed

  There are many reasons why you might want to change your name. Here's how.
How to Obtain or Renew a Passport

How to Obtain or Renew a Passport 

 What you need to know and what documents to bring with you when you apply for a passport
How to Obtain a Birth or Death Certificate

How to Obtain a Birth or Death Certificate

  There are many reasons you may need a copy of a birth or death certificate
How to Obtain a Marriage License

How to Obtain a Marriage License

  Know what you will need to take to the courthouse to get your marriage license
How to Pay Your Property Taxes

How to Pay Your Property Taxes

  View this short video to learn how and why you should pay property taxes
Disabled Plates and Placards

Disabled Plates and Placards

  What you need to know to apply for disabled plates and placards
      see listing of all county service videos

Texas County Courthouses

Photo Sites  •  Architecture  

Architecture: The Detailed Beauty of Texas Courthouses

County Magazine Article Nov 2004One doesn't have to be a county official to appreciate the joy of a beautiful county courthouse. Several coffee-table books and numerous Internet sites offer photos that identify the courthouses as well as the unique architectural styles in which they were built. But what does it mean to say that a building is “Second Empire” or “Beaux Arts” or “Art Deco?”

To find out, County asked photojournalist Amber Novak to consult with architects who specialize in courthouse styles and then head out to counties around the state to capture the unique elements that earn particular courthouses their architectural labels.

In each of five issues of County, the magazine highlights two styles from the same periods of history. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.

First, we start with related styles from the turn of the 20th Century (1900): Renaissance Revival and Italianate.

In the second article, we explore French Second Empire and Romanesque Revival courthouses of the late 1800's.

The third article looks at the early 20th Century styles of Neoclassical Revival and Beaux-Art Classicism.

The late 1920's to the early 1940's marked the Art Moderne and Art Deco trend of courthouse design in Texas as noted in the fourth article of the series.

The final article in the series looks at post-World War II courthouses which follow the dictates of Brutalism and Modernistic schools, often indistinguishable from contemporary office buildings.

How to Pay Your Property Taxes Disabled Plates and Placards Disabled Plates and Placards Marriage License Name Change Birth Certificate Passport