The last major public project designed by Frederick E. Ruffini before his death in 1885 is this courthouse, a two-story Second Empire building with heavily bracketed metal cornices and a red-painted metal mansard roof. Oscar Ruffini was appointed supervising architect on his brother’s death and oversaw completion of the building. The scheme is identical to their Sutton County Courthouse (RB6). The front and rear are five bays wide, rising in height and stepping forward to a central entrance bay, which features a shallow painted-metal pediment above the bracketed cornice. The walls are of gray rock-faced stone quarried locally, with quoins of smooth-faced tan stone. The formal entrance on the south has a portal of Tuscan-like pilasters and entablature over the round-arched doorway. The original wrought-iron fence runs around the square. Inside, a second-floor courtroom lit by tall windows to the north and south spans the width of the building.
The provenance of the courthouse design reflects common competitive business practices of the times. According to Texas Historical Commission records, the “plans originated with W. W. Larmour (of San Antonio), but were used without permission by the contractor J. H. Walker for the 1884 Tom Green courthouse [demolished]. The supervising architect for the Tom Green courthouse was Oscar Ruffini, who sent a copy of the plans and a photo of the courthouse to his brother Frederick Ernest Ruffini (of Austin), who in turn modified them for the Blanco County courthouse and for contractor Capt. James B. Smith, who then used the Ruffini design for the Callahan and the Concho county courthouses. Oscar Ruffini then reused the F. E. Ruffini plans for the Mills and Sutton County Courthouses.”
An abandoned one-story stone bank building faces the courthouse across San Saba Street and a row of false-front commercial buildings on the 100 block of N. Roberts Avenue convey Paint Rock’s Old West character.