Washoe County Courthouse, Reno: DeLongchamps' Domed Divorce Courthouse

Just south of the Truckee River, where Virginia Street meets Court, a ribbed copper dome rises over a portico of Corinthian columns. This is the Washoe County Courthouse, a Classical Revival landmark completed on June 1, 1911, to the design of Frederic J. DeLongchamps, a Reno-born architect still in his twenties, for whom it was a first solo commission. It has been a working courthouse every day since.

For a few decades it was also the most consequential doorway in the American divorce trade. Nearly 33,000 divorces were granted inside it during the 1930s alone, and the columns out front became a stage for the newly unmarried. This is the story of the stone, the dome, and the ritual. For the wider tale of how Reno became the place to end a marriage, read our account of the six-week residency.

Two Courthouses on One Corner

Reno became the county seat in 1871, and the town's founder, Myron Lake, gave land for a courthouse. The first one rose in 1872 and 1873: a two-story red-brick Italianate building designed by Septimus F. Hoole, built for $20,000. By 1909 the county had outgrown it and held a design competition for a replacement. DeLongchamps won.

His scheme did not erase the old building so much as wrap it; the 1873 brick walls were folded into the new structure. The cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1910, Sellman Brothers did the building, and the $250,000 courthouse opened a year later. DeLongchamps went on to design more than five hundred buildings, among them Reno's Main Post Office and the Riverside Hotel. This is where it began.

Dome, Portico, and Stone

The style is Classical Revival with Beaux-Arts ornament, dressed to be read from the street. Eleven granite steps climb from the sidewalk to a central portico carried on Corinthian columns, a pair at each end and two at the center, above a foundation of rough-cut granite. The two stories are clad in stone, with terra cotta around the openings and along the entablature, and the portico ceiling is pressed tin.

Above it all sits the dome: ribbed copper, with four pedimented windows spaced around its base. Inside, a second dome of stained glass, divided into eight sections by wooden ribs, glows over the upper floor, and the entrance hall is lined in gray marble.

The courthouse grew with the county. A north wing arrived in 1946 and a south wing in 1949, both clad in terra cotta to nearly match the original. In 1963 a plainer, five-story International-style annex went up to the west, designed by DeLongchamps with George O'Brien. It reads plainly as a later chapter.

The Divorce Years

Nevada granted its first divorce decree in 1859, but the trade took off in the early twentieth century as the residency clock kept shrinking. A year's wait made national headlines in a celebrated 1906 case; the requirement fell to three months in 1927 and to six weeks in 1931. Visitors arrived by train, took rooms at the Riverside Hotel or a rented ranch, and waited out the clock, spending about five million dollars a year in the process.

Then the courthouse did the rest. In 1931 alone, 4,800 decrees were granted in northern Nevada, most of them through this building. Across the 1930s the courthouse total approached 33,000, and Judge Thomas “Barney” Moran is remembered for signing some 27,000 of them. The peak year was 1945, with more than 10,000 divorces, nearly all on grounds of mental cruelty. Courtroom 1, where so many were heard, has been restored to its original look. The trade faded in the 1960s as no-fault divorce spread across the country.

The Kissing Columns and the Courthouse Today

The ritual belonged to the front steps. Newly free, a divorcee would turn at the portico and kiss one of the columns on the way out, and a 1937 magazine photograph of lipstick on the stone made the custom famous far beyond Reno. Down at the river, the newly divorced tossed their wedding rings from the Virginia Street Bridge into the Truckee, which earned it the name Bridge of Sighs.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 6, 1986. A later restoration cleaned the dome, replaced missing pieces with custom-made copies, and sent the stained-glass skylight to San Francisco for repair. It remains the home of the Second Judicial District Court, a century-old idea of civic grandeur still in daily use.

At a Glance: Washoe County Courthouse

• Location: 117 S. Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada.
• Architect: Frederic J. DeLongchamps, in his first solo commission.
• Built: cornerstone June 15, 1910; completed June 1, 1911, for $250,000, wrapping the walls of an 1873 brick courthouse.
• Style: Classical Revival with Beaux-Arts detail, a Corinthian portico, and a ribbed copper dome.
• Additions: north wing 1946, south wing 1949, five-story annex 1963.
• Divorce era: nearly 33,000 divorces granted here in the 1930s; the residency requirement fell to six weeks in 1931.
• Status: listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and still home to the Second Judicial District Court.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who designed the Washoe County Courthouse?

Frederic J. DeLongchamps, a Reno-born architect who won the county's design competition in 1909. It was his first solo commission, and he went on to design more than five hundred buildings.

When was the Washoe County Courthouse built?

Construction began with the cornerstone on June 15, 1910, and the building was completed on June 1, 1911. It incorporated the brick walls of the county's first courthouse, finished in 1873.

Why was the courthouse so important to Reno's divorce trade?

Nevada's short residency rules brought people from across the country, and this was the courthouse where their decrees were granted. Nearly 33,000 divorces passed through it in the 1930s.

What are the kissing columns?

The Corinthian columns of the front portico. Newly divorced people kissed them on the way out, a custom made famous by a 1937 magazine photograph.

Conclusion

A good courthouse looks as though it expects to be taken seriously, and this one has been for over a century: first as the seat of county government, then as the courthouse that made Reno famous, now as the quiet survivor of both. The dome, the Corinthian columns, and the restored Courtroom 1 are the record.

We keep returning to this stretch of Reno at The Eclection, from the Truckee-side glamour of the Riverside to the civic stone of Virginia Street. To bring a piece of that era home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study, these are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places — the courthouse's National Register record, reference 86002254.
• Nevada Supreme Court Law Library — a guide to Washoe County's courthouses.
• Second Judicial District Court, Historical Society — the courthouse timeline, divorce statistics, and restoration notes.
• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — articles on Nevada history, people, and places.
• Nevada Historical Society — the state museum and research library for Nevada history.

Hero photograph: Washoe County Courthouse, Reno, by Visitor7, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.