Heiner (1852–1901), the Houston architect responsible for designing many of the state’s most notable courthouses and jails, gave this two-story brick building a simplified Italianate expression, with stone quoins and stringcourses and a heavily bracketed cornice. The T-plan jail was expanded in 1916 and subsequently adapted for use as a hotel. It is currently utilized as a law office.
Gerald Moorhead et al., "Law Office (Smith County Jail, Lewis Hotel)", [Tyler, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-TK6.
Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 63-63.
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