Roswell courthouse listed among 'ugliest public buildings in the U.S.'

For two decades, motor vehicle infractions, code violations, citations for public drunkenness or fighting and other matters have been resolved in a plain-looking cinder-block building across the street from Roswell’s City Hall.

Roswell Municipal Court sits at N. Richardson Avenue and W. 5th Street in a rectangular box built in the mid-20th century as a New Mexico Gas Co. office. The city acquired the property and, following minor renovations, moved the municipal court there in 2004.

“When I was a kid, this is where we paid our gas bill,” Ron Garcia, the court’s chief administrator, said.

Last month, the courthouse scored a Top 20 ranking on a survey titled, “The 100 ugliest public buildings in the U.S.” The Roswell Municipal Court came in at No.16 and Municipal Judge Joseph Seskey admits to feeling rather slighted.

“Why are we not No. 1?” the judge asked during an interview in his chambers. “I’m claiming the ugliest building in New Mexico, so I’ve got that going for me.”

The survey was produced by the Robert Dekanski Team, a real estate group based in New Jersey, which said just over 3,000 people participated in its survey.

“This small court building has a neat and tidy presence, but not much in the way of architectural personality,” the Dekanski Team stated in a news release. “It’s compact and clearly purpose-driven — more focused on efficiency than atmosphere. Blink and you might mistake it for a business office.”

After reviewing the survey’s results, Seskey thought Roswell’s court was far more ugly than some of the top winners.

For instance, Seskey pointed to photos of the Akron (Ohio) Municipal Court, which ranked No. 6 on the survey, exclaiming: “We’re way uglier! They have cement benches built into their facade. They have a pedestrian walkway that goes over their street to another building. I think we should at least be Top 10.”

Seskey makes a valid point: While boxy structures of concrete and brick top DeKanski’s list, some of those top finishers sport prominent windows and decorative features that look almost ornate next to this unapologetic bunker of painted brick and cinder block in downtown Roswell. There is no awning or trim over the court’s entrance or the minimally recessed windows installed on two sides of the building.

On the other hand, if the court’s outstanding feature is its blandness, is that enough to call it out as one of the 20 ugliest civic buildings nationwide?

The Journal approached Dekanski as well as his publicist multiple times, by email and telephone, with questions about aesthetics as well as the survey’s methodology, including how many nominations the Roswell Municipal Court received and whether other New Mexico government buildings had been nominated, but got no response.

Instead, the Journal consulted Ray Vigil, president of Vigil and Associates, an architecture firm with offices in Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The firm’s projects include numerous school buildings, public safety complexes, medical facilities as well as commercial and residential buildings.

Vigil was wary of stepping on a fellow architect’s toes, but admitted Roswell Municipal Court could not be called an “attractive” building.

“You can tell this was built for the budget,” he said. “There’s not really any frills.”

With taxpayer-funded projects, Vigil said aesthetic beauty tends to take a backseat to maximizing space and function and selecting materials that contribute to the building’s longevity. These are measurable quantities, whereas beauty is subjective.

When it comes to style, Vigil said many municipalities and school districts aren’t sure what they want at the beginning. Designers present them with options based on the cost of materials, preferences for natural light, color schemes and overall tone.

Some projects do incorporate broader public input about design and style, however. Vigil’s firm designed the $64 million Columbia Elementary School currently finishing construction in Las Cruces. The school, named for the space shuttle that disintegrated during a 2003 mission, incorporates stars, planets and spacecraft in decorative touches throughout the building, all designed with materials, colors and stylistic choices that were vetted in a series of community meetings.

“We’re responsible to build part of the environment you work in and play in,” Vigil said. “It is a craft. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we get it wrong.”

A delicate balance

Some government buildings are stately — no pun intended — and evoke feelings of wonder and civic pride: Think of the neoclassical U.S. Capitol, or New Mexico’s State Capitol in Santa Fe, with its unique round structure and combination of classical and territorial styles inspired by Indigenous traditions.

With municipal buildings, such aspirations are greatly reduced — along with their budgets.

“You’ve got to spend the taxpayer dollar wisely,” Seskey said. “That’s what everybody looks at. ‘Why are you spending so extravagantly?’ That’s why you get plain buildings.”

For architects, Vigil said this requires a “delicate balance” of making something functional that may also be beautiful — but not so much that it seems ostentatious or wasteful.

“A lot of buildings may have whitewashed brick and polished cement. It’s very attractive and very elegant and more expensive-looking,” Vigil said. “It will have more cost; but then again, it will have more value. If buildings are built very cheaply, unfortunately, they don’t have as much value in terms of life expectancy or in terms of durability.”

When converting a private-sector commercial building for public use, as with Roswell’s municipal court, the emphasis on utility only intensifies. Vigil said the single-story block structure and its flat roof limited the range of what a designer might express, compared to sloped or gable roofs.

Inside, the walls are predominantly white and off-white, either from brick, cinder block or drywall. The chrome-colored metal chairs in the lobby outside the courtroom squeak loudly. Much of the lighting throughout the building comes via fluorescent tubes. Ceiling fans spin away throughout the building, suspended below drop ceilings. Staff have found ways to personalize their work spaces and soften the austerity of the walls.

Vigil suggested natural brick might make a more beautiful facade than painting it white, but Seskey says he and the court staff are content with their homely courthouse, even if they could use more storage space, the plumbing can be irritable and the windows have reached the end of their service life.

Occasionally, volunteers from Keep Chaves County Beautiful plant extra flowers in a bed near the signpost that stands on the street corner. That’s about as frilly as it gets.

“It may not look the greatest on the outside, but on the inside, it’s home for us,” Seskey said.