Willis Ritchie

Jefferson County, Washington courthouse, in Port Townsend, 1890

Willis Alexander Ritchie (14 July 1864 – 17 January 1931) was an architect whose career began in Ohio and Kansas, but reached maturity in Seattle and Spokane, Washington.

The Thurston County Courthouse building in downtown Olympia, also a Ritchie design. It is now known as the "Old Capitol Building". Built 1890-92, it served as the state capitol from 1905 to 1928 when the current building was completed.

Ritchie, who won numerous competitions for county courthouses and other public buildings in the early 1890s, was the first architect to achieve a statewide reputation in Washington. Among his major commissions is the Jefferson County, Washington courthouse, in Port Townsend, completed in 1890.

References

• Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H.H. Richardson, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London 2003, pages 252-279,
• Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, "Willis A. Ritchie." in Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects (Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed.), University of Washington Press, Seattle and London 1994, pages 40–45, 305-306, ISBN 978-0-295-97366-1