National Register Listing

Allen Parish Courthouse

5th St., Oberlin, LA

The Allen Parish Courthouse is significant in the area of architecture as Oberlin's most pretentious structure for the following reasons:

  • It stands at the head of Oberlin's main thoroughfare and hence has a commanding presence.
  • Because of its English basement and extra high stories, the courthouse towers over the predominantly 1t story town.
  • It is the most elaborate, "high style," monumental building in town. The only other large building in Oberlin is the high school, which is a symmetrical two-story brick structure with a meager looking four column portico. Compared to this the courthouse is much more impressive with features such as a rusticated base, terra cotta bas relief, three frontal windows with double Ionic columns which have the monumental effect of a triumphal arch motif, and the main block set off by end wings.

The Allen Parish Courthouse is also significant in the area of politics/ government because it has been the seat of parish government since its construction in 1912.

Local significance of the building:
Politics/government; Architecture

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.