Before and After Restoration
The Lamar County Courthouse, designed by architects Sanguinet & Staats, represents an unusual fusion of Classical Revival with heavy Romanesque details, arches and columns. After a fire destroyed most of downtown Paris in 1916, the damaged 1896 courthouse was de-constructed to provide a foundation and salvage granite for the current 1917 courthouse. The records vault, which pre-dates the 1896 courthouse by seven years, survived the fire and was incorporated into an annex for the 1917 courthouse. Lamar received both a planning grant in Round II and a full restoration grant in Round III. The restoration included removing non-historic partitions and dropped ceilings throughout the building, opening the courtroom to its original two-story configuration and restoring its balcony and the plaster and stencil work throughout the corridors, stairwells and courtroom. The restoration was completed in June 2006.
Fun Facts
