Lecture series celebrates courthouse anniversary

The Russ Brown Lecture Series, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Kootenai County Courthouse, continues with its fourth presentation slated for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in Courtroom 1, upstairs, at the historic courthouse. 

This month's presenter will be Robert Mather of Telluride, Colo., who is the former coordinator of the Telluride Historic Preservation Office and a retired historic preservation architect specializing in the restoration of historic courthouses.  

Mather's presentation will focus on the architects of the courthouse and its overall design expression. He will also discuss courthouse design in general. He will give a summary of a number of his restoration projects, which include The Mob Museum, Las Vegas, Nev., (1933), the James A. Walsh U.S Courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., (1930), the Ouray County Courthouse, Colorado (1888), and the Metzenbaum Federal Courthouse, Cleveland, Ohio (1911). 

The presentation will augment previous lectures by Stephen Shepperd and Jonathan Mueller, completing the larger discussion of the establishment of the new county seat, site development and the new courthouse design, a press release said.

Mather has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona, a Master of Architecture with emphasis in Historic Preservation from the University of Florida and has taught historic preservation at the Preservation Institute of Nantucket.

After serving as the Historic Preservation Architect for the Town of Telluride and managing its historic preservation office, he retired from full-time practice after 48 years. He continues to consult on a part-time basis for Mather Historic Preservation, LLC.