Valley County Courthouse

Valley County Courthouse – Restoration & Renovation

The Valley County Courthouse proudly stands in the center of Ord, Nebraska.  Berggren Architects was hired to provide architectural services to bring the building up to code, increase the accessibility of the building and to restore portions of the historic building fabric.  The building is currently being updated in three major phases.  The first phase was to construct an exterior stair on the building for a second means of egress.  The second phase added a new elevator, fire sprinklers, and a new fire alarm system.  The third phase being completed is to restore the terra cotta and brickwork on the exterior of the building.

The elevator for the courthouse was installed within the footprint of the existing building.  This elevator serves the three public floors of the building.  The installation of this elevator is not visible from the exterior of the building.  Doors and marble trim were salvaged and reinstalled within the building where necessary to preserve as much of the building’s historic fabric as possible.  Where new materials were required, materials sympathetic to the existing building were specified.

Fire sprinkler lines and fire alarms were also installed to be as inconspicuous as possible.  The old smoke alarm system was removed from public areas to bring spaces back to a more historic appearance.  Many of the corridors had decorative scored plaster walls.  Where openings were moved, new plaster was installed to match the historic scored pattern.