Multnomah County Courthouse
| Multnomah County Courthouse | |
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Multnomah County Courthouse
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Location | 1021 SW 4th Ave., Portland, Oregon, USA |
| Current tenants | County Courts, Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney's Office[1] |
| Cost | $1.6 million |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Whidden & Lewis |
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Multnomah County Courthouse
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Portland Historic Landmark[2]
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Built | 1911/1914 |
| Visitation | 3000/day[1] (2011) |
| NRHP Reference # | 79002136 |
| Added to NRHP | June 11, 1979[3] |
Multnomah County Courthouse serves as the courthouse for Multnomah County, Oregon and its Sheriff's Office. It is located in downtown, Portland, Oregon, the county seat. It currently includes 39 courtrooms, 36 of which are district courts, two are traffic courts, and one used for forced eviction detainment.[1] Due to concerns over the structural deficiency of the 100-year-old building, which was determined to need a costly seismic retrofit, the county board of commissioners decided in 2013 to launch plans to construct a new courthouse in a different location to replace the existing building. As of April 2015, the new courthouse is projected to open in 2020.[4]
Contents
History
Multnomah County Courthouse was built in two phases between 1909 and 1914 at a total cost of $1.6 million; to make it fire-resistant, it was constructed of concrete-encased steel, with concrete slab floors and walls of terra-cotta brick, covered with plaster.[1] At the time, it was the largest courthouse on the west coast and served also as county seat and county jail.[1]
Originally, the building had a central courtyard, where prohibition-era confiscated alcohol was poured down a drain; over time, this courtyard was filled in to make room for more offices and a jury room.[5] The courthouse has four two-story courtrooms which feature most of the courthouse's original design; some two-story courtrooms were split horizontally during the 1950s, expanding capacity and resulting in new floors.[1]
Further renovation of the courthouse has been under consideration since at least 1970,[6] with studies starting in the 1990s also considering building a new courthouse.[1] It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[1][6][7]
A February 2001 earthquake exposed weaknesses in the building's structure.[5] Plans for the addition of a new floor, the infill of the light well and a major seismic retrofit were considered, with costs estimated in 2011 to be between $176 million and $220 million.[6] However, in March 2013, the county board of commissioners decided instead to work toward planning for the construction of a new courthouse building in a different location, to replace the existing building.[8] A search for suitable sites for the new courthouse followed, and in April 2015 the county commission chose a site at the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge as the location for the planned new courthouse.[4] Construction is expected to begin by 2017, with opening to the public in 2020.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
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