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Renville County Courthouse

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1936, Edwin W. Molander; I. E. Orheim, builder. 205 Main St. E
  • (Photograph by Steve C. Martens)

Work on the second Renville County Courthouse and jail was made possible by a grant from the PWA and the Soldiers’ Memorial levy. The courthouse is organized with a tall central section and slightly lower two-story wings that curve out from the central entrance. Horizontal banded-brick head and sill courses on the wings tie their windows together. The three-bay columned entrance to the courthouse is capped by a tall Kettle River sandstone cornice with applied Moderne metal letters spelling out the building’s name. The entrance is ornamented with bronze doors and granite spandrels. The courtroom and meeting rooms are in the central section. Continuing the Moderne motifs is a memorial in front of the building that consists of a circular granite-faced base on a stepped platform. Topped by a flagpole, the memorial is engraved with the names of Renville County veterans who gave their lives in World War I.

Edwin Molander, who was born in Wisconsin and educated at the University of Minnesota (1925), launched his architectural career from Minot on the basis of a series of county war memorial buildings, which later led to a career of government buildings, schools, and medical facilities. After 1945 he departed for the brighter prospects of Spokane, Washington, where he established the Funk, Molander and Johnson partnership.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay
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Data

Citation

Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay, "Renville County Courthouse", [Mohall, North Dakota], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ND-01-RV1.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of North Dakota

Buildings of North Dakota, Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 143-144.

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