Photo by Jimmy Emerson, and used under a Creative Commons license
The old Ada County Courthouse is one of the oldest and most historical pieces of architecture in the city of Boise. The courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The building was constructed in 1939 by the hands of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration, an organization created to aid citizens gain employment in the time of the Great Depression. The fact that the courthouse was built due to the WPA (Works Progress Administration) contributes to its reputability of a historical place greatly. The building itself had served for many purposes and duties over the span of 63 years. The Ada County Courthouse was used as a courthouse, a legislative building and even a jailhouse. The courthouse was planned by designers Wayland and Fennell who rapidly gained much reputation in the city of Boise for their work on this specific infrastructure. The old courthouse is built in an Art Deco style which is rarely seen in the city of Boise. The floor and large amount of the outside of the building is composed of limestone which also contributes to its historical appearance. Limestone was a rarity and the majority of buildings in Boise at this time were made of some sort of less expensive stone material. Another contributing factor to the courthouse being known as a historical monument is the artwork. There are many pieces of art that could easily be critiqued in the present day. One of these pieces is a mural of Native Americans being hung. Although these portraits are now covered, things of this nature show the historical content of the time the courthouse was constructed. After being sold to the state by the county, state legislators began to complain of limited space in this building and started to propose for renovation or the building of a new courthouse. This is how the new courthouse in Boise came to be constructed. With the construction of the new and improved courthouse underway, discussion of destructing the original Ada County courthouse began to emerge. Local officials and citizens of Boise began to object the destruction of the courthouse under the pretence that the building was indeed an original and contributing piece of the city’s history. Although the destruction of the building was denied, the courthouse was abandoned and use of it has now come to an end. The construction of the inside of the building has now prohibited people currently accessing the inside, but the courthouse can still be seen in downtown Boise.
