Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse

Saint Paul, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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The Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse, a twenty-story Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1932, stands at 15 Kellogg Boulevard West as a testament to ambitious civic architecture built during the Great Depression. Designed by Thomas Ellerbe & Company of Saint Paul and Holabird & Root of Chicago and inspired by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, the building's four-million-dollar budget was strategically underspent, allowing for exceptionally high-quality materials and craftsmanship. The exterior showcases smooth Indiana limestone in the "American Perpendicular" Art Deco style, with vertical window rows connected by plain black spandrels and relief sculptures carved by Lee Lawrie flanking its entrances. Inside, the "Zigzag Moderne" interior draws from the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, featuring Memorial Hall's striking contrast of white marble flooring and three-story black marble piers beneath a gold-leaf ceiling, anchored by Carl Milles's monumental 38-foot white onyx sculpture *Vision of Peace*. The building's lavish detailing includes woodwork from twenty-three wood species, five types of imported marble, murals by John W. Norton, and bronze elevator doors by Albert Stewart.

Movement

Art Deco architecture

Type: Rathaus, county courthouse
Heritage: National Register of Historic Places listed place
Place: Saint Paul, United States

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Location

44.94403, -93.09364