Brooks County Courthouse, Falfurrias, Texas (1914), Alfred Giles architect

In this episode, Jake Pescatore argues that English architect Alfred Giles' design for the Brooks County Courthouse was the result of a western settler-colonial mindset infecting the world of architecture towards the end of the 19th century. Following the design trends of the time, the neo-classical style should be viewed as something of an "invasive species," spreading ready-made ideas about American character around the world to rural areas of the U.S., urban developments in the U.S.-controlled Philippines, and to various other third world countries. Wherever neo-classicism manifested, local architectures could find itself being choked out, or pushed to the outskirts of the town or city that it once called home.