Restoration Architect Lewis Fisher led the team on a detailed survey of remaining fabric, and recreation of the missing fabric aided by tin-type.Karnes County Courthouse
Karnes City, Texas
Fisher+Heck
“Remuddled” on three separate occasions, the damage to the historic fabric was profound.
The contract to design and build the courthouse was awarded to John Cormack. Cormack died before finishing the structure and his business associate J. A. Austin completed the job. The value engineering employed by Austin resulted in a change of structural logic which would, 100 years later, necessitate our reengineering of the structure.In 1854 Karnes County erected its first courthouse in the county seat of Helena, an important stage stop between San Antonio and Goliad. The original courthouse was destroyed in a storm about 1865 and a new stone courthouse was built in Helena in 1873.
Historic restoration of the 1891 courthouse required extensive forensic evaluation as all Victorian features had been removed at an unknown date. Subsidence required the removal of the 1920 era addition, requiring complete retro-space planning to facilitate County operations.