On a grassy, rural hillside three blocks north of Main Street in the Eastern Oregon town of Moro, sits the Sherman County Courthouse. Built in the Queen Anne Style in 1899, this charming National Register-listed building is one of only three Oregon courthouses which can claim continuous use since construction. (The other two can be found in Benton and Polk Counties.)
The Sherman County Courthouse does more than house the county’s courts. It also provides a home for county administrative functions and houses the offices of the district attorney and sheriff — a lot to ask of one small building.
With the goal of providing more space and increased security, an ambitious renovation and addition conceived by Henneberry Eddy Architects has transformed this charming courthouse and its grounds into a civic and community destination.
Despite its large size, the new addition does not overshadow the original building. Set back and sitting a full two feet lower than the historic courthouse, the addition boasts sustainable design features including solar panels, and offers twice as much square footage as the original building did, providing space for new courtrooms, high-security areas and offices. An attractive 25-foot glass enclosure links the new building with the old, providing an appropriate separation between the two.
While much of this project’s construction was completed in 2017, in the spring of 2018, the county turned its attention to the original courthouse building. Using historic photographs as their guide, the Henneberry Eddy design team faithfully reproduced the structure’s long-missing cupola with a lighter-weight fiberglass replica and restored the cupola’s original paint colors and unique striped pattern. The Hennebery Eddy team then created a public art gallery within the historic courthouse, and filled it with submissions from the community featuring Sherman County-themed artwork that celebrates the past and present, while also promoting a healthy work environment, sense of place and civic pride.
For designing a modern, vastly larger addition that successfully manages to allow the smaller, original historic courthouse structure to remain in the spotlight, and for creating a center of civic life that uses art to blend everything from law enforcement to local history, Restore Oregon was delighted to celebrate the restoration and expansion of the Sherman County Courthouse at our 2019 Restoration Celebration gala by presenting a well-deserved DeMuro Award to Henneberry Eddy Architects.
