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.
Client
Bexar County
Services
Architectural Design, Interior Design, MEP Engineering, Construction Administration
Date
2023
Size
3,000 SF
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.