The Multnomah County Courthouse is a historic building that served as the courthouse for

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The stat ...

from 1911 to 2020. It is located in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, the county seat, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Due to concerns over the structural deficiency of the then-century-old building, which was determined to need a costly

seismic retrofit Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

, 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. Construction began in October 2016. The old courthouse closed on September 29, 2020, and the new courthouse opened on October 5. The old building was sold in 2018 to NBP Capital, which plans to convert it into a

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

after making a seismic retrofit.

History

The 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 A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

floors and walls of

terra-cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware object ...

brick, covered with plaster. At the time, it was the largest courthouse on the west coast and served also as

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and

county jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

. 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. The courthouse had four two-story courtrooms which featured most of the courthouse's original design; some two-story courtrooms were split horizontally during the 1950s, expanding capacity and resulting in new floors. Further renovation of the courthouse had been under consideration since at least 1970, with studies starting in the 1990s also considering building a new courthouse. It was placed on the

in 1979.

Replacement and closure as courthouse

A February 2001 earthquake exposed weaknesses in the building's structure. Plans for the addition of a new floor, the infill of the light well and a major

were considered, with costs estimated in 2011 to be between $176 million and $220 million. 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. 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 The Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, joining Hawthorne Boulevard and Madison Street. It is the oldest vertical-lift bridge in operation in the United States and the o ...

as the location for the planned new courthouse. Construction began in October 2016. The last day of operation of the old courthouse was September 29, 2020, and the new building opened to the public on October 5, 2020. The new courthouse is 17 stories tall and has 44 courtrooms. It is located in the block bounded by First Avenue, Madison Street, Naito Parkway, and Jefferson Street, with its main (public) entrance located at the intersection of First and Madison.

Post-courthouse future

The county sold the old building to NBP Capital in November 2018. In 2020, it was reported that the company plans to carry out a

and convert the building for mixed use, but that details of the plans are not yet finalized.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Architecture, National Register of Historic Places, Oregon 1911 establishments in Oregon County courthouses in Oregon Government buildings completed in 1911 Government buildings in Portland, Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Portland Historic Landmarks Buildings and structures in Southwest Portland, Oregon Oregon's Most Endangered Places

History

Replacement and closure as courthouse

Post-courthouse future

See also

References

External links