Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Encyclopedia
The Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse is a historic courthouse
, federal office
, and post office
building located at San Antonio
in Bexar County, Texas
. It was formerly the U.S. Post Office, Federal Office Building and Courthouse. It is the courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
. It holds a prominent location on Alamo Plaza
, across from the Alamo
. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as San Antonio U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
of the 1930s. Its construction accomplished several goals—generating employment, housing all federal agencies in a single building, and streamlining San Antonio's quickly expanding postal needs.
Prominent local architect Ralph Haywood Cameron designed the building in association with renowned Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret
under the direction of the Office of the Supervising Architect
of the U.S. Treasury Department. Both Cameron and Cret studied at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts
in Paris. Cameron, a native Texan who also designed the Dewitt County Courthouse, went on to become one of the leading Beaux-Arts architects of south Texas, and Cret was nationally recognized as one of the foremost practitioners of the style. A ceremonial cornerstone was laid for the new federal building in 1935. Construction was completed in 1936, and the building officially opened in 1937. At that time, the first floor and basement were air-conditioned, a new technology that had not been installed in the any other post office in the country.
Shortly after the building's completion, noted artist Howard Cook painted an epic 16-panel fresco mural in the entry lobby; it is regarded as one of the showpieces of the federal mural program. Cook was selected from among 185 artists in a national competition conducted by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. In 1999, art conservators restored the mural to its original brilliance.
The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is located in the Alamo Plaza Historic District
. In 2000, the building was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places
. It was renamed the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse in 2004 to honor Judge Hipolito Frank Garcia
(1925–2002).
At the first story, the principal approach is created by broad steps of Texas Pink granite spanning the width of the building, leading to three arched entrances with keystones, alternating with four rectangular windows with decorative metal grilles. Limestone
masonry walls are articulated by chamfered joints, rising to an overhanging stringcourse. The limestone walls of the upper stories are smooth in contrast, but are also divided into seven bays, featuring rectangular windows at the second story, and elongated fenestration formed by vertically stacked windows at the third and fourth stories. Above the entablature, the attic (sixth) story is similarly clad in smooth limestone veneer with rectangular fenestration flanked by flat pilasters. At the edge of the low-pitched mansard roof, six decorative stone acroteria (urn-like ornaments) are aligned with the pilasters and columns below.
On the interior, the Beaux-Arts tradition of grand entrances and circulation areas is boldly expressed by the entry and postal lobbies' rich architectural detail and ornamentation. The entry lobby is distinguished by a series of bracketed entryways capped by blind arches with egg-and-dart
moldings. Light-colored St. Genevieve marble covers the walls up to the springing course. The most vibrant feature is Howard Cook's outstanding 16-panel mural, "San Antonio's Importance in Texas History." The mural is a fresco
, a technique of paint applied directly over wet plaster, and spans 750 square feet (69.7 m²), making it one of the largest frescoes in the nation. Cook's mural evokes historical events in Texas, including the arrival of the first Conquistadors, the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and the arrival of the railroad.
The postal lobby features its original bronze and glass-topped tables, with 41 bronze sales window-boxes capped by a continuous band of fretwork and divided by marble Doric pilasters that rise to a wide dentiled cornice. The floors are Tennessee Golden Veined Pink marble, with dark cedar-colored marble bases, and light-colored St. Genevieve marble for the wainscot. Original bronze light fixtures grace the lobby in a variety of decorative motifs depicting eagles and shields.
The ceremonial courtroom, located in the south wing of the third floor, is a light-filled two-story space, featuring six bronze pendant chandelier
s and dark-stained wood for the wainscot and all of the built-in furniture, including the original judge's bench, witness stand and clerk's desk. Tall, painted pilasters extend from the wainscot to a wide ornamental plaster entablature. The judge's bench is framed by an arched niche enriched with wide, intricately decorated plaster ornament, moldings, and gilding, contributing to the impressive character of the room.
The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse retains its character-defining details and craftsmanship, and continues to convey its significance as an excellent example of a monumental Beaux-Arts-style public building in San Antonio.
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
, federal office
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
, and post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
building located at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
in Bexar County, Texas
Bexar County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,117 people per square mile . There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 418 per square mile...
. It was formerly the U.S. Post Office, Federal Office Building and Courthouse. It is the courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas is the Federal district court with jurisdiction over the southern part of Texas...
. It holds a prominent location on Alamo Plaza
Alamo Plaza Historic District
Alamo Plaza Historic District is a historic district in San Antonio, Texas that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.It includes The Alamo, a separately listed Registered Historic Place and a U.S. National Historic Landmark....
, across from the Alamo
Alamo Mission in San Antonio
The Alamo, originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound, site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, and now a museum, in San Antonio, Texas....
. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as San Antonio U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
Building history
The building was a product of the Federal Public Works programs enacted to relieve widespread unemployment during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s. Its construction accomplished several goals—generating employment, housing all federal agencies in a single building, and streamlining San Antonio's quickly expanding postal needs.
Prominent local architect Ralph Haywood Cameron designed the building in association with renowned Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret
Paul Philippe Cret
Paul Philippe Cret was a French-American architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he headed the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.- Biography :...
under the direction of the Office of the Supervising Architect
Office of the Supervising Architect
The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....
of the U.S. Treasury Department. Both Cameron and Cret studied at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris. Cameron, a native Texan who also designed the Dewitt County Courthouse, went on to become one of the leading Beaux-Arts architects of south Texas, and Cret was nationally recognized as one of the foremost practitioners of the style. A ceremonial cornerstone was laid for the new federal building in 1935. Construction was completed in 1936, and the building officially opened in 1937. At that time, the first floor and basement were air-conditioned, a new technology that had not been installed in the any other post office in the country.
Shortly after the building's completion, noted artist Howard Cook painted an epic 16-panel fresco mural in the entry lobby; it is regarded as one of the showpieces of the federal mural program. Cook was selected from among 185 artists in a national competition conducted by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. In 1999, art conservators restored the mural to its original brilliance.
The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is located in the Alamo Plaza Historic District
Alamo Plaza Historic District
Alamo Plaza Historic District is a historic district in San Antonio, Texas that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.It includes The Alamo, a separately listed Registered Historic Place and a U.S. National Historic Landmark....
. In 2000, the building was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It was renamed the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse in 2004 to honor Judge Hipolito Frank Garcia
Hipolito Frank Garcia
Hipolito Frank Garcia was a United States federal judge.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Garcia was in the United States Army during World War II, from 1943 to 1945, and received an LL.B. from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1951...
(1925–2002).
Architecture
A skillful example of Beaux-Arts classicism, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is indicative of the federal government's goal of expressing democratic ideals through classically derived architecture featuring grand scale, symmetry, and refined details. The six-story building encompasses an entire city block and is constructed of steel and concrete clad in rich local materials—Texas Pink granite and Texas Cream limestone. The building is polygonal in plan, centered on a central light court. Its facade (south elevation) emphasizes a centrally recessed porch behind a screen of six monumental Ionic columns, rising to support an entablature that continues all around the building.At the first story, the principal approach is created by broad steps of Texas Pink granite spanning the width of the building, leading to three arched entrances with keystones, alternating with four rectangular windows with decorative metal grilles. Limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
masonry walls are articulated by chamfered joints, rising to an overhanging stringcourse. The limestone walls of the upper stories are smooth in contrast, but are also divided into seven bays, featuring rectangular windows at the second story, and elongated fenestration formed by vertically stacked windows at the third and fourth stories. Above the entablature, the attic (sixth) story is similarly clad in smooth limestone veneer with rectangular fenestration flanked by flat pilasters. At the edge of the low-pitched mansard roof, six decorative stone acroteria (urn-like ornaments) are aligned with the pilasters and columns below.
On the interior, the Beaux-Arts tradition of grand entrances and circulation areas is boldly expressed by the entry and postal lobbies' rich architectural detail and ornamentation. The entry lobby is distinguished by a series of bracketed entryways capped by blind arches with egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart or Egg-and-tongue is an ornamental device often carved in wood, stone, or plaster quarter-round ovolo mouldings, consisting of an egg-shaped object alternating with an element shaped like an arrow, anchor or dart. Egg-and-dart enrichment of the ovolo molding of the Ionic capital is...
moldings. Light-colored St. Genevieve marble covers the walls up to the springing course. The most vibrant feature is Howard Cook's outstanding 16-panel mural, "San Antonio's Importance in Texas History." The mural is a fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
, a technique of paint applied directly over wet plaster, and spans 750 square feet (69.7 m²), making it one of the largest frescoes in the nation. Cook's mural evokes historical events in Texas, including the arrival of the first Conquistadors, the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and the arrival of the railroad.
The postal lobby features its original bronze and glass-topped tables, with 41 bronze sales window-boxes capped by a continuous band of fretwork and divided by marble Doric pilasters that rise to a wide dentiled cornice. The floors are Tennessee Golden Veined Pink marble, with dark cedar-colored marble bases, and light-colored St. Genevieve marble for the wainscot. Original bronze light fixtures grace the lobby in a variety of decorative motifs depicting eagles and shields.
The ceremonial courtroom, located in the south wing of the third floor, is a light-filled two-story space, featuring six bronze pendant chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
s and dark-stained wood for the wainscot and all of the built-in furniture, including the original judge's bench, witness stand and clerk's desk. Tall, painted pilasters extend from the wainscot to a wide ornamental plaster entablature. The judge's bench is framed by an arched niche enriched with wide, intricately decorated plaster ornament, moldings, and gilding, contributing to the impressive character of the room.
The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse retains its character-defining details and craftsmanship, and continues to convey its significance as an excellent example of a monumental Beaux-Arts-style public building in San Antonio.
Significant events
- 1932: Congress appropriates funds for the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
- 1935-36: The building is constructed.
- 1937: The building is ceremonially opened.
- 1937-39: Howard Cook designs and executes the fresco mural, "San Antonio's Importance in Texas History."
- 1999: Cook's mural is restored.
- 2000: The building is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. - 2004: Renamed Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Building facts
- Architect: Ralph Haywood Cameron and Paul Philippe Cret
- Construction Dates: 1935-36
- Landmark Status: Located in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
; listed in the Alamo Plaza National Register Historic District - Location: 615 East Houston Street
- Architectural Style: Beaux-Arts
- Primary Material: Texas Cream limestone, Texas Pink granite, steel and concrete
- Prominent Features: Howard Cook's 16-panel fresco mural; ceremonial courtroom