New Courthouse Looks Old-Fashioned, Just How Anniston, Alabama, Likes It

Since a federal program was unveiled in 2016 to build new courthouses across the country, the architectural styles have been all over the map.

A cubic structure with canopy-covered terraces in Austin, Texas. A modern building with a concave main entrance in Des Moines, Iowa. A Nashville, Tennessee, courthouse that looks like it belongs in a suburban office park.

In the case of a new federal courthouse in Anniston, Alabama, it was designed to look like a classic courthouse. The $42.6 million building that opened in May looks as if it could have been built in the early 1900s, with exterior masonry cladding of precast concrete manufactured to look like marble, a decorative cornice along the roof edge and the outline of Ionic columns over the main entryway.

That was no accident. Robert Perry, a principal at architectural firm Page Southerland Page who helped design the courthouse, said the new building was intentionally designed that way because members of the Anniston community wanted something that looked traditional.

The approach reflects the region’s political leanings, which fall squarely on the conservative side. About 69% of Calhoun County, located in the mountains of northeast Alabama, voted for former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.

When Trump issued an executive order in 2020 that required all new federal buildings be designed in a classical style, the people of Anniston paid attention. The top federal judicial official in the Anniston region at the time, U.S. District Court Judge Karon Bowdre, also wanted a traditional-looking Southern courthouse, Perry said.

“We don’t have an aesthetic that we ascribe to,” Perry said, referring to his architectural firm. “We try to understand what the client wants and create a design based on that.”

Anniston’s new building is part of the $947 million federal program to construct and renovate 13 courthouses over a five-year period. Also in the program is a courthouse annex under construction in Toledo, Ohio, and a courthouse in San Antonio, Texas, that opened this month. Both buildings feature modern designs.

In Anniston, a city of about 21,000 people, the stated preference was for a classic building. Page decided to use the circa-1906 courthouse located nearby as a guide, Perry said.

“We set about, not mimicking the old courthouse, but complementing it,” he said.

The architects used items salvaged from a nearby United Service Organizations facility in the new courthouse. Those include a stone eagle carving that has been placed in the courthouse interior and cast-iron lamp posts.

Portions of the interior make use of locally quarried Sylacauga marble, chosen for its white color and for its designation as the official Alabama state rock. The exterior is entirely clad in precast concrete that looks like white Alabama marble.

The courthouse also includes a commemoration for the Freedom Riders, a group of Black and white protesters targeting racial segregation who were attacked by a mob at a Greyhound bus depot in May 1961. The Freedom Riders National Monument is located at 1031 Gurnee Ave., a block from the new courthouse.

In practical terms, the previous federal courthouse had become nearly obsolete, Perry said. Security equipment could barely fit at the building’s front entrance because of lack of space. The courtrooms were so small that jury trials were held in Birmingham, a one-hour drive west.

“There was really no way to safely move prisoners into the courthouse for trial,” Perry said.

Now jury trials can be held in Anniston in the 63,000-square-foot courthouse. Jury boxes contain computer monitors so jurors can view submitted evidence.

The strict rules for classical design presented challenges, especially with crafting courtroom spaces, Perry said. Modern designs can be more flexible with space requirements, making it easier to design the shape and size of courtrooms. But classical courthouse architecture rules also allow the building to work based on long-standing principles such as wide, straight hallways and giant windows on the building’s top floors, he said.

“Those windows provide lots of natural sunlight, and that’s really nice,” Perry said.

The new courthouse is located at 1100 Gurnee Ave. at the site of the former Anniston city hall, which was demolished in 2019. Anniston will locate its new city hall at the former federal courthouse, at the intersection of 12th and Noble streets, which is scheduled for renovation.

Other tenants in Anniston’s new courthouse include the federal bankruptcy court, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services.

CoStar photographers capture images every day of distinctive buildings, each with its own story. Snapshots is an occasional feature showcasing one of them.