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Overview

This long, linear, WPA Moderne hospital was erected in the later years of the Depression. After it was vacated by the hospital, it became used by Union County as part of its courthouse ensemble. Originally, the hospital had two main buildings: a four-story main block and a two-story wing to the east connected by a glazed corridor.

Building History

Like many institutional buildings of the 1935-1940 period, the Saint Joseph Hospital had a WPA Moderne aesthetic, a severe, unornamented form with a strongly horizontal stress. Belt courses stretched the length of each floor, a representation of speed and efficiency, while windows continued this horizontal visual momentum around corners. A central bay contrasted with this horizontality by featuring strongly vertical lines. When seen from the front, this verticality built to a culmination point in a thin cupola topped by a cross. The hospital's four floors had double-loaded corridors. The main four-story block had an external ground floor corridor connecting it with another two-story hospital building.

The hospital vacated the property and it was obtained by Union County as part of its Courthouse complex. It was thereafter known as the "Joseph Building at the Union County Courthouse Complex." By 2015, some concern was raised about the fate of the Joseph Building as it had fallen in disrepair. A new courthouse building was erected in 2015, and some county departments were leaving the Joseph Building for the new space. Cherise Kaechele reported in 2015: "The Joseph Building was called the worst courthouse in the state in a 2008 study, but several offices are staying where they are in the building, and the county will be looking to find businesses and organizations to move into the vacated courthouse space." (See Cherise Kaechele, The La Grande Observer.com. "Future unknown for County’s Joseph Building," published 04/15/2015, accessed 08/31/2022.)

A Union County website of c. 2015, stated: "Crews from Mike Becker General Contractor, Inc. have begun construction on the new Union County Circuit Court Building. The approximate 15,329 square foot building will allow for the relocation of the state court functions from the Joseph Building. The building will include two courtrooms and office space for court administration, judges and judicial support staff. No county departments will be housed in the new facility. The anticipated completion date of the facility is September 30." (See Union County.org, "Circuit Court Building Update," accessed 08/31/2022.)

In 2022, Union County Community Corrections occupied a portion of the main, western block, along with private, commercial offices. The Union County Administrative Office and its Data Processing functions inhabited the eastern wing,

Building Notes

In its 08/1941, issue, the Architectural Record wrote of the the Saint Joseph Hospital: "The hospital group consists of hospital, convent, chapel, laundry and heater room; and future additions will double patients' accommodations and include a nurses' home. All are of concrete. Exterior surfaces were given an ashlar effect by inserting wood strips in the plywood forms. When forms were removed, a brush coast of portland cement was applied. Into this, while still soft, was blasted fine granite sand to form an integral surfacing. Cost of project was $180,000 excluding land and equipment." (See "Sand-Surfaced Concrete Hospital," Architectural Record, vol 30, no. 8, 08/1941, p. 92.)

Alteration

As with most hospitals, Saint Joseph underwent multiple additions and alterations over the years.

PCAD id: 10785