County preparing preservation plan for historic courthouse

By Scott Aust, Journal staff | Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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Built in 1922, the Pennington County Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to the significance of its architectural style.

Designed by Kansas architect W.E. Hulse, who designed several courthouses in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, the courthouse was constructed in the Beaux Arts style. It is one of only two Beaux Arts buildings in Rapid City and is one of only a handful of Beaux Arts courthouses in the state.

Now the county is in the midst of creating a preservation plan to guide potential future restoration projects and preserve the building for future generations.

"There are wonderful examples out there of carved plasterwork, and it is starting to decay. That became my concern after I fell in love with the old courthouse," Commissioner Nancy Trautman said. "The purpose of this is to look at what's most critical to fix first, and then we will work through all the areas that we need to restore."

The character-defining features in the building include the Corinthian capitals and columns, rounded-arch windows, a two-story opening space in the entryway of the original entrance on the north side of the building, and the domed rotunda area.

The courthouse has a lot of crown molding, including dentil molding on the interior and egg and dart molding on the exterior, according to Michelle Dennis, an architectural historian acting as a historic preservation consultant for Four Front Design, the firm preparing the preservation plan.

"Those are all pretty traditional classic elements that got used in that style of architecture," Dennis said. "Some of the interesting things about the courthouse is it was designed to be fire-proof. The building is built out of steel and concrete because they had lost two courthouses to fire already, so they wanted to not lose this one."

Over the steel and concrete, the exterior finishes are in Indiana Bedford limestone with marble and terrazzo throughout the interior.

"The original blueprint called for design and creation of all the furniture and everything throughout the courthouse for all the offices, the courtroom. A lot of that is still there. Those long, wooden benches in the lobby were all part of the original courtroom benches," Dennis said.

Trautman is credited with spearheading the county's effort to find funding to help pay for preservation efforts. But before granting organizations will consider giving funds to Pennington County, the county needed to write a preservation plan.

Assisted by the state's Historic Preservation Office and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the county applied for and received $7,000 from two historic preservation grant organizations to help pay for the development of the preservation plan, and hired Four Front Design of Rapid City do the work. The county also provided $7,000 in local matching funds to pay for the project.

When completed, the preservation plan will include historical research, building documentation, condition assessments, recommendations for treatment, prioritization of efforts and recommendations for future action.

Ken Anderson, Four Front vice president and project manager, said the courthouse is in good condition. Much of the fieldwork has been completed to define the historic context of the building and document its existing condition.

By the end of the year, Anderson hopes to have a rough draft ready for review. It will include recommendations about preserving and maintaining the courthouse, and provide guidelines for how to handle future remodeling or renovations to lessen the impact on historically significant areas within the courthouse.

Jean Kessloff, a member of the steering committee for the project, put together a prototype brochure describing courthouse history and featuring vintage photos that could be distributed at the courthouse.

"People love to look at old photographs. It makes history come alive," she said. "I truly believe historic preservation is important, but it can also be fun."

Kessloff also has prepared a prototype of an activities book for kids, combining history and architecture with things like crossword puzzles, dot-to-dot games and coloring pages. She believes the plan provides a great opportunity to teach people about the history, architecture and significance of the courthouse.

"When you think of capitol buildings, you think of Washington, D.C., or Pierre. This is our capitol building. The capitol building to Pennington County," she said.

Trautman hopes the preservation plan will help the county attract grants that could then be used to repair areas that need repaired. She also thinks there may be opportunities for private donations toward those kinds of projects in the future.

"I just feel that our community is so pleased that we care enough about our courthouse to make sure it is preserved the best it can be. I'm very excited about this project," she said. 

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com