Visitors to the Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa might notice something unusual about the "Lady Justice" statue on its roof – it lacks both sword and scales. According to county lore, in the 1890s, a convicted cowboy shot the scales out of the statue's hands and proclaimed, "There is no justice in this country."
More than a century later, when preservation contractors from Farmers Branch-based Phoenix 1 restored the structure, including the courthouse roof, they were carefully instructed by Presidio County staff not to restore the adornments. Whether inspired by truth or legend, the intangible story of the statue had become a very tangible part of the community's identity.
This was one of many anecdotes shared by county leaders, preservation contractors, architects and others who assembled for the Duda Forum on Historic Preservation and Sustainable Development, held in Austin and New Braunfels Nov. 20-21, 2025. The story illustrated the conference's driving themes: architecture as a force for cultural and historic preservation, providing durable representations of community values, aspirations, and history.
Preserving our common home
Sustainability and historic preservation are connected topics. Reusing historic structures, rather than demolishing and rebuilding, conserves embodied energy, reduces construction waste, and maintains community identity – principles that resonate not only with environmental and budget goals, but also with Catholic social teaching about stewardship, sustainability, and preserving what Pope Francis in 2015 called "our common home."
The Duda Forum honors Michael C. Duda, a Notre Dame architecture graduate who devoted his career to Texas historic preservation before his untimely death. His parents, former Notre Dame Trustee Fritz Duda and Mary Lee Duda, established the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at Notre Dame in 2021, channeling their grief into purpose.
The annual Duda Forum showcases opportunities and challenges specifically faced by Texas, with its varied and eventful history that plays a key role in the Lone Star State's identity.
Expressing potential: Opening night in Austin
This year's event began at the Travis County Probate Court in Austin – once a federal courthouse, the building was repurposed decades later to serve a new role at the county level.
Designed by Austin architect Charles Page and built in 1936 during the height of the Great Depression, the courthouse is a striking example of Public Works Administration Moderne architecture—a style that married streamlined Art Deco elegance with the monumental civic presence federal buildings demanded in the 1930s. This beautiful fusion of government practicality and architectural expertise provided an appropriate backdrop to the opening of the 2025 Duda Forum on a rainy night in Austin.
The opening keynote featured Brantley Hightower, author of The Courthouses of Central Texas. Hightower explored why builders made such grand buildings for relatively unpopulated areas of the state, noting that the original builders of now-historic courthouses believed strongly in the values that had brought them to the Texas frontier, and had faith that the "temples of justice" they were constructing would endure.
"They did not reflect existing conditions," Hightower said. "They were built to express an idea of the potential of what they could accomplish."
Rising from the ashes: A day in New Braunfels
On Nov. 21 the event moved to New Braunfels and the Comal County Courthouse, a beneficiary of a comprehensive 2013 restoration, funded in part by the Texas Historical Commission’s Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP), that returned the courthouse to its original 1898 appearance—a building constructed in classical European design yet expressing at its heart a uniquely American architectural identity.
About 100 participants heard from preservation architects, county officials, Texas Historical Commission staff, and downtown development professionals about how courthouse restoration catalyzes broader downtown revitalization.
Former and current county judges shared stories of communities transformed by restored courthouses – not just economically, but socially and spiritually. Judge Jerry Bearden of Mason County, whose courthouse was destroyed by arson in 2021, spoke passionately about the trauma experienced by his county staff and constituents. "I said that we would be like the mythical bird, the phoenix, and rise from the ashes," Bearden said. The restored courthouse was rededicated in 2024 after fundraising and support from a THCPP full restoration grant and the Texas Legislature.
Judge J.D. Clark of Wise County (who rededicated its restored courthouse in October, also funded with a full restoration THCPP grant) and Judge Sherman Krause of Comal County also shared their experiences.
Preservation professionals like Dale Sellars of Phoenix 1, Alexis McKinney of Architexas and Michael van Enter of van Enter Studios joined THC staff including Susan Tietz, THC's Courthouse Program Coordinator, to share their knowledge and experiences working on these unique civic renewal projects.
"Each of the 254 counties in the state of Texas that were blessed with these architectural wonders needs to keep them and maintain them," Sellars urged.
Other sessions focused on the courthouse's role in economic redevelopment and community vitality, with presentations from Josie Falletta, the Downtown Manager for the San Marcos Main Street Program and Rush Harris, Executive Director of the Marshall Economic Development. Throughout these discussions, the THC's Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program was frequently mentioned as an engine of historic preservation and community betterment in Texas.
A model for the nation
Texas' courthouse preservation program represents one of the nation's most ambitious state-funded historic preservation initiatives. The program has invested more than $400 million since 1999 to restore 107 county courthouses. But program leaders emphasize the work transcends construction.
"Courthouse restorations provide an incredible boost to community identity and civic pride," said Elizabeth Brummett, THC's Division of Architecture Director. "The beauty and history of these buildings speaks to the important business and justice that take place in each one."
Back in Austin, New Braunfels and cities across the Lone Star State, county courthouses resumed their daily work of trials, marriages, public meetings and more in spaces that have witnessed century upon century of these everyday but always critical actions.
Thanks to preservation efforts by the THC, the Texas Historical Foundation, the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability and others, they will witness many more, serving as both functional public buildings and living lessons in sustainable stewardship.
As Michael Duda understood, and as his family foundation now teaches, saving these buildings isn't nostalgia. It's a necessity.
