This is a three-story building with a full basement, much of which is fully exposed as a ground floor on the south and west elevations due to the slope of the landscape. It exemplifies the Art Deco style with its chevrons and stylistic sculptures, which include eagles surmounted on attached columns flanking the doors, scales symbolizing justice, and figures hold an "all-seeing eye" atop the corner piers. The exterior walls are sheathed with brick above the basement; the basement is sheathed with storie in a smooth ashlar rusticated finish. A beltcourse of stone with chevron detailing rings the building above the second floor windows. The east entrance is set off by stone surrounds. The north and south "wings" are set back slightly from the front and rear elevations. The interior includes oak trim, terrazzo floors and Tenessee marble wainscot. Alterations include the raising of the roof over the former jail area and the addition of a third floor to provide additional courtroom space [1959), awnings over the entrances, and filling-in of some windows. There are two monuments in the front, one from 1946 and the other to honor William Simon U'ren from 1977.

Statement of Significance: Clackamas County was formed in 1843 by the Provisional Government. The first courthouse, built in 1850, burned in 1862. For the next 20 years, county business was conducted in various rented spaces downtown. An imposing, Second Empire style courthouse, designed by Neer and LaRomer, was constructed in 1884-1885 on the site of the present courthouse. By 1930, the building had become overcrowded and badly deteriorated and county officials began seeking funding for a new building. It was not until a PWA grant for $90,000 was received in 1935, however, that a new courthouse became a possibility. The new courthouse, an excellent example of the popular Art Deco style used for many public works projects during the Great Depression, was designed by architect F. Marion Stokes. Construction, which began in September 1936 and was completed in May 1937, was supervised by Glen L. Ford, a contractor from Portland. The building was constructed with 20,000 sacks of cement, 350,000 board feet of Clackamas County grown and manufactured lumber, and 90,000 bricks from Yamhill County. In keeping with the purpose of the federal relief-funded projects in the 1930s, the project created employment for dozens of people and resulted in 83,121 hours of labor. The total cost of the project was $273,000. This building should be considered eligible not only as a contributing resource in a historic district, but also as an individually eligible resource. Although there have been some alterations to the building, they have been mostly sensitive to the historic appearance and have not seriously affected the integrity of the building. As an individually eligible resource, the courthouse would be eligible as the only example of an Art Deco building in downtown Oregon City and as a nearly intact example of a public works project funded in part by a federal relief program {PWA) which provided assistance to communities throughout the country.