Morehouse Parish Courthouse - Bastrop, Louisiana
Posted by: BruceS
N 32° 46.677 W 091° 54.834
15S E 601714 N 3627192
Historic parish courthouse in Bastrop, Louisiana.
Waymark Code: WM37XJ
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 02/23/2008
Views: 42
"The Morehouse Parish Courthouse (1914) is a monumental Beaux Arts building
located in a courthouse square setting in the heart of downtown Bastrop. The
walls are in beige brick veneer, with numerous details in off-white cast
concrete. The main original block rises in stages to four stories, culminating
in a faceted dome on a high drum. Downtown Bastrop is on a crest of land and the
courthouse site itself is elevated about two feet, with the result that the dome
can be seen at a distance. Despite the largely new interior and extensive
additions (to the sides and copying the original architecture), the building’s
impressive Beaux Arts character stands forth, providing the rural parish with
its greatest architectural landmark. The courthouse is in excellent condition
thanks to a multi-million dollar project completed in 2001.
The Morehouse Parish Courthouse epitomizes a kind of flamboyant classicism
for public buildings which reached its peak nationally in about 1900 and was
thereafter in decline as a more rigid and mannered style came into fashion. The
original portion of the building consists of a massive colossal entrance portico
(in antis), the dome structure and the threebay wings on either side of the
portico. Here are found traditional elements of Beaux Arts classicism --
advancing and receding wall planes, an operatic building up of massing, the
strongly scaled portico with its coupled brick pilasters and Tuscan columns, the
massive two-stage parapet and, of course, the drum and dome. More than a full
story in height, the octagonal drum has heavy multiple bases. Its corners are
accented with coupled pilasters whose mass is registered in the surmounting
entablature. The four-stage dome features clocks on four sides redolent of
fashionable Beaux Arts rooftop figure sculpture. Additionally, the drum is
marked by a large ornamental filigree window on each facet. The faceted conical
roof culminates in a diminutive cupola." ~ National Register nomination form