The 1932 Ramsey County Courthouse and Saint Paul City Hall in downtown St. Paul is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 21-story building is significant for the art deco high-rise architecture and Memorial Hall with the Vision of Peace statue. This project remodels 13 restrooms, skyway, and break area on the lower through third floors. Designing layouts that worked for accessibility and maintained as many plumbing fixtures as possible, which on some floors were already deficient, was critical to Ramsey County. McMonigal Architects brought a keen eye for detail to maintain character defining historic features.
McMonigal Architects identified deficiencies within the existing restrooms, and designed solutions to address the issues. Since the building has public meetings, jury duty, and visitors, four men’s and women’s restrooms were converted to single-user restrooms to support those with physical disabilities, accompanying children, and those that identify as transgender. One of the single-user restrooms has an adult sized changing table to support people needing assistance. Anti-liturgical fixtures and accessories were installed at the first floor holding cell.
Finishes, such as tile, terrazzo, and toilet partitions, were carefully studied and matched to minimize demolition and replacement. Matching historic door hardware while upgrading for occupancy indicators was a challenge. Tight plumbing chases sometimes dictated restroom fixture layouts.