Built in 1933, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 and was renamed in honor of district court judge Eldon Brooks Mahon in 2003.

In 1938, artist Frank Mechau was commissioned under the Public Works Administration's art programs to paint three oil-on-canvas panels in the fourth-floor Court of Appeals.

Mechau, a realistic painter who romanticized the American West, is a key figure of the western genre-with work on public view in Federal buildings and art museums across the country.

Mahon presided over some of the most influential social and political cases in north Texas, including overseeing the racial integration of the Fort Worth School District-a 19-year endeavor.

A steel and concrete structure faced with limestone veneer, each elevation adheres to classical principles of symmetry and articulation by a regular rhythm of bays with a centralized principal entrance.

Art Moderne elements are embodied by the sharp angles and zigzag surfaces seen in the stacked fenestration of the upper stories, and in the geometric, low-relief abstraction of the ornamentation.

Sumptuous finishes, crafted of marble and bronze, and Native American and Art Deco-influenced detailing create eye-catching public spaces on the interior.

The Court of Appeals on the fourth floor exhibits similar finishes and motifs, featuring 22-foot-high walls clad in American black walnut paneling that is rounded at the corners in a streamlined effect.