The Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio, Texas is the largest and oldest courthouse in Texas that remains in operation today. Renovating a declared historic building in Texas comes with design challenges our designers met head-on. We were asked to renovate an existing Employee Health Clinic located in the basement of the historic structure. Restoring and updating a historic property requires accurately depicting the form, features and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of time, removing features from other periods in the building’s history and reconstructing missing features from the restoration period.
SERVICES NEEDED: Interior Space Planning Material Selection MEP Upgrades, provided by Johnston LLC Construction Documents Adherence to Historic Restoration Guidelines Life Safety Accessibility.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The existing conditions of the clinic are not reflective of the style of the historic building. Because of the location in the basement and the specialty area , aesthetic allowances are made to meet healthcare and accessibility standards.
FINISH SELECTIONS: Selecting materials to complement the historic interior of the courthouse while adhering to contemporary healthcare laws and accessibility standards proved an exciting, real-world challenge for the Johnston LLC Team. A health clinic requires laminate casework; to pull the historic look and feel into this area the wood stain was matched to a laminate finish and a marbled solid surface countertop was specified. The floors feature LVT in a concrete look and the general paint is the same off-white used in the main areas of the courthouse. In the clinic restrooms a large-format hexagon tile is used for the flooring and coordinating wall tile creates a wainscot to offer protection. This finish selection is analogous to the historic finishes offered in the beautiful courtrooms while providing the required hygienic properties required by a healthcare setting.
