Wise County Courthouse Restoration Earns 2026 Texas Downtown President’s Award
Pictured (L to R): Wise County Facilities Manager Jimmy Counts, Texas Downtown President Shane Wilhelm, and Parkhill Regional Business Development Leader Allan Wolf, PE, at the Texas Downtown Annual Conference in Amarillo, where the Wise County Courthouse Restoration project received the Texas Downtown President’s Award.
Parkhill congratulates Wise County on receiving the 2026 President’s Award by Texas Downtown for the restoration of its historic courthouse. Presented at the President’s Award Gala on Nov. 4, 2026, the award recognizes outstanding projects, places, and people contributing to the vitality of Texas downtowns.
The Wise County Courthouse has stood in downtown Decatur since 1896. It is one of the 12 surviving courthouses out of 18 designed by James Riely Gordon. In 2025, Komatsu Architecture, now part of Parkhill, restored the community landmark on the town square to its original design.
Restoring the Courthouse’s Original Design
Before the 2025 restoration, time and successive repairs had altered the original building design. The design team analyzed layers of paint finishes on the original plaster walls to restore the historic color palette. The team also restored original architectural features, including a central wind chimney, which circulated breezes before the days of central air conditioning, and a skylight that provides natural light to the core of the building.
Craftspeople used 3D LiDAR scanning technology to recreate missing components on the original cast-iron staircase, including decorative rosettes. In the district courtroom, a second-floor balcony and an arch over the judge’s bench were reinstated.
_JD24123.NEF
_JD24123.NEF
A Community Effort to Preserve History
The restoration was the culmination of a community effort led by Wise County Judge J.D. Clark. Citizens and the local newspaper, the Wise County Messenger, joined the endeavor to safeguard the courthouse’s history.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and I believe this restoration will be a source of pride for Wise County for another century and beyond,” Judge Clark said.