Ormsby County Courthouse
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Carson City Offices (Ormsby County Courthouse)
1920–1922, Frederick J. DeLongchamps. 100 S. Carson St. and 19 N. Carson St.
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(Photograph by Julie Nicoletta)
DeLongchamps designed these twin buildings across Carson Street from the capitol during one of his appointments as state architect (1919–1921). First he devised a plan for the Heroes Memorial, honoring those who fought in World War I. Then he suggested the same design to Ormsby County for its new courthouse just to the north of the state building. Both buildings have prominent porticoes with pediments and Tuscan columns. DeLongchamps, who had designed the Nevada buildings for San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition (1915) and San Diego's Panama-California Exposition (1915–1916), may have wished to create an orderly plaza along the lines of the City Beautiful movement. The two coursed sandstone Classical Revival buildings originally flanked an open landscaped court centered on an ornate fountain. The Office of the Attorney General ( NW068.6, formerly the Supreme Court and State Library) now stands in the middle of this court, and the fountain has been moved to a position in front of it. The state legislature has since dissolved Ormsby County, but its courthouse, together with its twin, continues to serve the public. Heroes Memorial houses additional offices of the state attorney general, while the courthouse accommodates Carson City's judicial functions.
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