Dade County Courthouse
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The Miami-Dade County Courthouse, formerly known as the Dade County Courthouse, is a historic
courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...
and skyscraper located at 73 West Flagler Street in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Constructed over four years (1925–28), it was added to the
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on January 4, 1989. The building is tall with 28 floors. When it was built, it was the tallest building the city of Miami and state of Florida. It is still in use as the main civil courthouse of
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...
, though a new courthouse is being built nearby to be completed by 2025.


History

When county government was established following the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, public records were sparse. Thus, whichever location the county's chief office holder decided to do business was the ''de facto'' courthouse. In 1890, Dade County's first courthouse stood in the town of Juno, Florida some north of
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
. At the time, Dade County covered more territory than it does today, stretching from
Bahia Honda Key Bahia Honda ( , ; ) is an island in the lower Florida Keys. U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) crosses the key at approximately mile markers 36-38.5, between Ohio Key and Spanish Harbor Key west of Marathon, close to the west end of the Seven ...
, in the middle Keys, up to the
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, near present-day Port St. Lucie. Juno was chosen as the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
because of its strategic location at the southern terminus of the Jupiter-Juno railroad. Juno also held the northern terminus of the boat and connecting stagecoach line to Miami. The courthouse remained in Juno (now no longer in existence) until 1899, when it was moved to Miami down the inland waterway on a barge and was placed on the banks of the Miami River, east of the old Miami Avenue bridge. The building was a two-story wooden-frame construction, housing offices and jail cells on the ground floor and a courtroom on the second floor. It has a Neoclassical design, in 1904 this building was replaced by a new courthouse building situated on
Flagler Street Flagler Street is a main east–west road in Miami. Flagler Street is the latitudinal baseline that divides all the streets on the Miami-Dade County grid plan as north or south streets (the east-west division is along Miami Avenue). Fla ...
(then known as Twelfth Street). It was a magnificent building constructed of limestone, having an elegant red-domed top, at the cost of $47,000. It was anticipated that this courthouse would serve the city for at least 50 years; however, no one was prepared for the rapid growth Miami experienced during this period, and by 1924, only twenty years later, there was serious talk of the need for a larger courthouse. In the early 1920s, architect A. Ten Eyck Brown entered a design competition for
Atlanta City Hall Atlanta City Hall is the headquarters of the City of Atlanta government. It was constructed in 1930, and is located in Downtown Atlanta. It is a high-rise office tower very similar to dozens of other city halls built in the United States duri ...
, which was rejected. He then made the plans available to Dade County, and City and County officials readily approved them. It was decided by the officials to build the new courthouse at the same location as the existing one on Flagler Street. Construction began in 1925, with workers erecting the new building around the existing structure, which was then dismantled. Community leaders and citizens alike voiced excitement over the new 28-story skyscraper that would soon dominate the skyline. Unexpectedly, construction was halted when the building reached ten stories. It was discovered that the high-rise was sinking into the spongy ground. Engineers consulted with an architect from
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, whom had encountered a similar problem while building the
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opera house. The consultant determined that the foundation pilings were not set deep enough. To correct the problem, cement supports were poured, which take up much of the space in the building's basement file room even to this day. The courthouse was finally completed in 1928 at the cost of $4 million (
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2013 $54.5 million). Initially, it served as the Dade County Courthouse and Jail, and the Miami City Hall. The jail occupied the top nine floors as it was thought that prisoners would not risk escaping from such a height, either directly down or through multiple guarded staircases and elevators. This theory was disproven in 1934, when a 21st floor prisoner picked the lock of his jail cell window and used a fire hose to lower himself to freedom. In the years following, more than 70 prisoners escaped from what was thought to be a secure and escape-proof jail. For many years, the courthouse, at an elevation of 360 feet, was reputed to be the tallest building south of
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. It was the county's first high-rise and is in the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. Efforts to refurbish this magnificent structure and restore it to its original grandeur have been underway since 1981 by Architect James W. Piersol, AIA of M.C Harry Associates Architects of Miami. The restoration and renovations initially stabilized the terra cotta facade, and installed new life safety systems. In 1982, the idea of restoring the lobby to its original distinction was the passion of both Architect James Piersol and engineer Don Youatt, of the Miami-Dade Planning and Development Department. With a little less than half of the funding necessary for the lobby restoration project in hand ($300,000 grant approved by the Legislature in 1996), the Dade County Bar Association acted as the fund-raising umbrella and initiated a drive to raise the remainder needed from lawyers and the general public. A few years later, the same team restored Courtroom 6-1, which had been the site of many infamous trials over the years.


Recent history and 2024 replacement

Today, the courthouse provides offices, chambers, and courtrooms for the clerks and judiciary assigned to both the Circuit and County Civil Court. On July 9, 2021, the courthouse was closed down after an engineer reported "safety concerns with various floors", and staff members were directed to work remotely. The inspection report was made in the wake of the deadly collapse of a condominium building in nearby Surfside. In the years prior to the closure, the structural safety of the courthouse building had been the center of complaints by resident judges and lawyers, even as county administrators consistently declared it safe following various "spot repairs". At the time of the closure, Miami-Dade County was planning the construction of a replacement building and the selling of the original courthouse. A new county courthouse tower was completed adjacent to the historic building in 2024. It has over 600,000 square feet of floor space in a tower with 25 storeys.


Gallery

File:Southwest side of the Dade County Courthouse in March 2011.jpg, Southwest view of the Miami-Dade courthouse in 2011 File:Dade County Courthouse - DPalma01.jpg, Seen from the east


See also

* List of tallest buildings in Miami#Timeline


References


External links


Dade County listings
Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

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Dade County Courthouses
Miami History Channel * Florida's Historic Courthouses by Hampton Dunn (ISBN) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dade County Courthouse 2 Government buildings completed in 1928 County courthouses in Florida National Register of Historic Places in Miami Skyscraper office buildings in Miami A. Ten Eyck Brown buildings 1928 establishments in Florida