Preservation Idaho has been shocked to learn that the historic Jefferson County Courthouse in Rigby will be demolished today.
The National Register listed building is a landmark in Jefferson County and Eastern Idaho and its loss would be a tremendous blow to the architectural history and culture of that region of the state. It would represent the first demolition in decades of an Idaho courthouse building listed in the National Register.
Since construction of a new courthous...e by Jefferson County in 2007, the historic courthouse has passed through a series of owners without adequate maintenance or a viable proposal for reuse. The building could easily be converted for use as private offices and such a conversion – if carried out appropriately – could take advantage of the incentive of federal tax credits.
Demolition of this historic building represents a tremendous waste – a waste of history, a waste of a viable building, and the unnecessary material waste that will go to the landfill. At a minimum, the current owner should allow for a thorough documentation of the building and the completion of a salvage effort prior to demolition – measures which they have so far proven unwilling to allow.
ABOUT THE HISTORIC JEFFERSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE:
The historic Jefferson County Courthouse was constructed in 1938 for approximately $55,000. Designed by the prominent Idaho Falls architectural firm of Sundberg and Sundberg, the building was constructed by Johnson and Mickelsen of Logan, Utah and built under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs designed to spur economic development, create jobs, and enhance public infrastructure around the nation. Several other Idaho counties constructed new courthouses with the assistance of New Deal funding and Sundberg and Sundberg designed three of these, including the Rigby building. The historic Jefferson County Courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. This building’s architecture is remarkable for its Art Deco design and heavy use of detailed terra cotta ornamentation. Brick wall surfaces of the two-story façade project outward in a stepped central entrance bay. The entrance bay features intricate terra cotta tiles in cream, blue, and orange which depict the abstracted, foliated designs common to the Art Deco style. These tiles are employed in greatest number around the entrance but are present as coping along the top of the walls and are even found on the building’s chimney. The interior of the building retains a number of period features, including its entry vestibule, where the original inner doors and transom are intact; plaster walls; large scale ceiling molding; and tiled stairway to the second floor.
