Grand Forks County Courthouse

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Completed in 1914, the Grand Forks County Courthouse is a monumental Beaux-Arts building with a modified Classical Revival influence, featuring rich limestone carvings, interior marble details, and a striking dome topped by a statue of Justice. It is the largest and most expensive of the thirteen North Dakota courthouses designed by the prominent firm Buechner & Orth, and a lasting symbol of the region’s early twentieth-century boom and civic permanence. The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Renaissance Historic Exteriors was selected to restore the copper dome of the Grand Forks County Courthouse, the most visible and character-defining feature of a landmark that has anchored downtown Grand Forks for more than a century.

THE CHALLENGE

After more than a century of North Dakota winters, the dome’s copper roof had reached the end of its service life. A conditions assessment found that the copper panel seams had come apart from the top of the dome down to the cornice ledge, and that undersized flashing at the base of the dome was failing to shed water away from the drum walls. Water traveled down both sides of the drum walls, pooled on the drum floor, and followed the structural steel and masonry core all the way to the third-floor corridor ceilings, damaging every building element in its path.

The work had to be performed more than 40 feet above the main roof, around delicate historic ornament, while the courthouse remained open and in service to the public.

THE RENAISSANCE SOLUTION

Copper Dome Roof Replacement

Our crews removed the deteriorated copper roofing system down to the substrate while keeping the building watertight throughout. Damaged substrate and wood blocking were repaired, and a new two-layer plywood nailing surface was installed to provide a sound base for the new roof. A self-adhering, high-temperature waterproofing underlayment and slip sheet followed as an added layer of protection.

New 16-ounce cold-rolled copper was then fabricated to precisely match the dome’s original historic profiles and installed as flat-lock panels with soldered seams, following the Copper Development Association’s Copper in Architecture standards. New copper flashing at the top, middle, and base of the dome was detailed to carry water away from the drum walls.

Statue and Ornamental Copper

The project also included the restoration of the dome’s crowning statue of Justice and the sixteen decorative “pawns” (finials) arrayed at its base, along with the formed copper posts, bands, and wreath of the upper dome. Each element was carefully removed, repaired, and reinstalled, with new components replicated where originals could not be saved.

Terra Cotta Waterproofing

At the base of the dome, 32 terra cotta units were reinstalled, paired with a dedicated fluid-applied waterproofing system installed around them to safeguard against future moisture infiltration.

THE RESULTS

The restored copper dome once again provides reliable protection for the courthouse below, stopping the water intrusion that had been damaging the structure from the top of the dome to the third-floor ceilings. The project preserved a significant piece of North Dakota civic architecture while ensuring that the courthouse dome—and the statue of Justice atop it—will continue to serve and define the Grand Forks community for generations to come.