Concrete lovers can breathe a little easier knowing one of Salem’s premiere structures from the 1970s has earned historic recognition.
The National Park Service has added the Salem Civic Center to the National Register of Historic Places, months after city and state officials first sought the designation.
The building was listed Nov. 2, according to the National Parks Service, which maintains the registry. Oregon’s Parks and Recreation Department announced the listing Thursday.
The center, located at 555 Liberty St. S.E., is an example of the New Brutalist architectural style, which emphasized minimalist and functional designs that showed off building materials like concrete.
The $10 million building was completed in August 1972, requiring 24,000 cubic yards of concrete to construct.
It was intended to consolidate city services into one location after a period of rapid growth, where Salem’s civic facilities had become scattered. The original city hall, completed in 1897, was designed when Salem’s population was just 6,000 people. By 1960, that number had grown to about 50,000.
“We cannot in good conscience tell you we are at the present time very efficient, cramped as we are and spread around the town as we are,” said then Mayor Vern Miller in a 1968 appeal for the construction of a new city hall.
The design and location came after multiple studies spanning over two decades, the state parks department said.
“The Salem Civic Center was considered modern, functional, accessible, and for everyone’s enjoyment and use. The Salem Civic Center represents what Salemites wanted in their government and community, and how they wanted it to look, as they ventured into the future,” the state parks department said in a news release.
Its open air design was intended to make government offices more accessible to the public, city officials said ahead of a 50th birthday celebration over the summer. In addition to housing City Hall, the complex also includes Central Fire Station #1, Mirror Pond and Pringle Creek, the City Hall parking garage and Plaza Fountain, which are all included in the historic listing.
The listing doesn’t put any federal restrictions on how the city can use the property, but does make the property eligible for some grants related to historic preservation.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
