HUNTSVILLE — Calling it an “important asset,” Huntsville is acquring the former federal courthouse downtown.

The transaction is a property swap, the city said, and involves no money. Huntsville provided the site for the new U.S. courthouse that opened this year at the intersection of Lowe Avenue and Gallatin Street.

At Thursday’s regular meeting, the City Council approved an agreement with the General Services Administration to acquire the now-vacant former U.S. Courthouse on Holmes Avenue.

“The former courthouse is an important asset for our community and the city looks forward to how it can be used in the future,” Mayor Tommy Battle said. “It is important to the city that its future uses respect the historical integrity of the building.”

Huntsville officials have not determined a use for the former courthouse, which opened in 1936 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Neo-Classical Revival style building opened as a U.S. post office as well as a courthouse and federal office building. The agreement includes protections for the historically significant elements of the building, both interior and exterior.

Of particular interest to many in the community, the historic mural that hung in the main courtroom has been moved to the new courthouse.