James Riely Gordon (August 2, 1863 – March 16, 1937)[1] was an architect who practiced in San Antonio until 1902 and then in New York City, where he gained national recognition.

Working during the state's "Golden Age" (1883–1898) of courthouse construction, Gordon saw 18 of his designs erected from 1885 to 1901; today, 12 remain.

[4][page needed] In 1887, he returned to San Antonio to supervise construction of that city's U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (replaced in 1937).

Laub, won first prize of $1,000 in a country-wide competition to design the new Bexar County Courthouse; shortly afterward, they ended their partnership.

He became a master of the Romanesque Revival style that had been introduced to great acclaim by Henry Hobson Richardson with his Trinity Church in Boston in 1877.

Returning to the roots of the style in the medieval Auvergne Region of France, Gordon is said to have "out-Richardsonianed Richardson"[6] with his finest Romanesque works in Decatur and Waxahachie, Texas.

Gordon's most successful plan—apparently his own unique design, without precedent—was that of a Greek cross with a square central atrium and stairwell, and quarter-circular entrance porches in each corner.

This Signature Plan of his captured the passing breeze, which lifted thru the central atrium like a chimney, providing a natural ventilation system.

The massive building tapers to 134 feet at the peak of the central clock tower, atop a vast roof punctuated by dormers.

The pyramidal mass is softened by decorations such as carved faces of people and animals (apparently by the accomplished artisan Harry Herley), as well as multicolored stones and bricks, and metal eagles perched on spirelets above the roof.

Gordon got some satisfaction from the crooked state politicians with this "graceful, dignified, and architecturally fine" building in Vicksburg that flaunts its Beaux-Arts beauty on a crest above the Mississippi River.

With a soaring pair of stacked bay windows, it is clad in white terra cotta, like Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building of the same period.

[13] Among Gordon's nonpublic work in Texas is the 1890 Protestant Home for Destitute Children at 802 Kentucky Ave in San Antonio.

[54] The showplace home that J. Riely Gordon designed for real estate developer Jay E. Adams stands at 505 Belknap today.

[57] James Riely Gordon's papers are now held in the Alexander Architectural Archive of the University of Texas Libraries.