Old Jefferson Parish Courthouse

R.S. Soule drew the three-story Renaissance Revival courthouse that rose on Second Street in Gretna in 1907. The parish seat had been here since 1884, and the building was scaled for that work — courtrooms, clerk offices, the record books that tracked land and probate across Jefferson Parish. It held that function until 1956, though Gretna stayed the seat until 1961. The courts left, the building stayed, and now it's city hall. The Jefferson Memorial Arch went up on the grounds in 1923. The courthouse made the National Register in 1983. Walk in during business hours and you'll see what happens when function changes but the rooms don't — the bones are still civic, the desks and door labels have shifted to match the new tenant. The structure itself hasn't revised.