The original Knox County Courthouse is a handsome brick and granite structure built in 1874. It houses the Knox County offices, probate court, and district attorneys offices. It also houses the State of Maine Superior Courtroom, clerks’ offices, and judges chambers. In 1977 a three story, 10,000 SF addition was built, which housed the State District Court functions and the Register of Deeds.

Simons Architects designed a 20,440 SF addition to house an all-new District Courthouse, including three courtrooms, a unified court clerks area, judges’ chambers, conference and meeting facilities, the law library, secured prisoner areas, and support spaces. We also designed renovations and alterations to the 1977 addition and the original 1874 Courthouse building, which is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

The project brought the District and Superior Court functions together as a unified court system for the first time. The project also required a total redesign of the site. SA established a new accessible entrance for the District Courthouse, redesigned and reconfigured the parking lots with no loss of spaces, designed landscaping that unified the entire City block, and established walkways to reconnect the site to the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood.

Client  |  Knox County Courthouse

Location  |  Rockland, Maine

Photographer  |  Bernard Meyers