- City:
- Alexandria, LA
- Site Type:
- Civic Facilities, Courthouses (State & Local)
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Completed:
- 1940
- Designers:
- Barron & Roberts, Edward F. Neild
- Contractor:
- James T. Taylor
- Marked:
- Yes
Description
The Rapides Parish Courthouse was undertaken in Alexandria, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The facilities were part of the largest wave of courthouse construction in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected in the period of 1936-1940.
The courthouse featured a “streamlined bas-relief characterization of justice” (Leighninger, 2007b p. 96) and “Moses, staring sternly forward, law books in his lap” (Leighninger, 2007a, p. 117). It was, along with the Natchitoches Parish courthouse, one of only two Louisiana courthouses erected during the period to feature heavy use such of bas-relief sculptures. The courthouse was constructed at a cost of $588,528.
Source notes
Leighninger, R. (February 1, 2011). Public Works Administration Architecture. In David Johnson (Ed.) KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2010. Retrieved from https://knowla.org/entry/495/ Leighninger, R. D. (2007a). Building Louisiana: The Legacy of the Public Works Administration. The University Press of Mississippi. Leighninger, R. D. (2007b). Long-range public investment: The forgotten legacy of the New Deal. University of South Carolina Press.Site originally submitted by Susan C. Allen on December 4, 2014.
Site Details
| Total Cost |
|---|
| $588,528.00 |
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