Racine County Courthouse - Racine, WI - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Racine County Courthouse is the seat of justice and county courthouse of Racine County, Wisconsin. The building is located at 730 Wisconsin Avenue, near downtown in the county's seat of Racine, Wisconsin. Built in 1930 and 1931 by the Chicago firm Holabird & Root, the Art Deco-styled building stands eleven stories tall and dominates the city's skyline. In addition to the county's judicial system, the building also houses the County Executive, whose office is on the tenth floor, and most of the offices for the county government. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 28, 1980.

The present courthouse is the third to serve Racine County. Planning for the third and current courthouse started with the creation of a building fund in 1923. Construction began in 1928, when the county selected a full city block, bounded by Wisconsin and College Avenues and Seventh and Eighth Streets, and set it aside for a new county office. This location was the former site of Racine High School, which had closed earlier that year. Chicago architects John A. Holabird and John W. Root Jr. were chosen to design the building. The courthouse was one of three major civic construction projects that took place between 1930 and 1931, alongside Racine's new City Hall and a new post office. All three of these buildings opened during the same week in July 1931, in a county-wide "Dedication Week" celebration.

The Racine County Courthouse is the tallest building in Racine County, standing 157 feet above the street and 164 feet from the base of its ground floor. The building has eleven stories and a basement used for archival storage. Originally, the four uppermost floors were home to the Racine County Jail, and the basement the office of the Sheriff's Department, but both of these moved across the street to the Racine County Law Enforcement Center when it opened in 1982.

The relief sculptures on the building's walls were created by Carl Milles, in his first American commission. Architecturally, the building has also been noted for the relief sculptures on its bronze elevator doors.-Racine County Courthouse

The NRHP Nomination Form linked below states "Rising to a height of 157 1/2 feet in eleven stories, the Courthouse is Modernistic-Art Deco in style. The bold exterior is faced with Bedford limestone, cut by vertical columns of steelframed plate glass windows. The structural system is steel frame, with floors of poured concrete, and foundation of concrete on hard clay".

Street address: 730 Wisconsin Ave. Racine, WI USA 53403 County / Borough / Parish: Racine County Year listed: 1980 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Politics/Government, Art, Architecture Periods of significance: 1925-1949 Historic function: Government Current function: Government Privately owned?: no Hours of operation: From: 8:00 AM To: 4:30 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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