Gatke Hall

Gatke Hall
The entrance to Gatke Hall
General information
Architectural style	Beaux Arts
Town or city	Salem, Oregon
Country	United States
Construction started	1901
Completed	1903
Client	United States Postal Service
Design and construction
Architect	James Knox Taylor

Gatke Hall is the second-oldest building at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. A two-story structure, it was originally built in downtown Salem in 1903 across the street from the Marion County Courthouse and served as a post office. The Beaux Arts styled building was moved to the university in 1938 and first served as the home to the law school.

In 1901, construction began on the first post office building in Salem. The Beaux Arts style structure was designed by architect James Knox Taylor. Prior postal locations were housed in privately owned buildings. The new two-story structure was erected between the Marion County Courthouse and the Oregon State Capitol. It had a steel and brick frame with a sandstone exterior. The sandstone came from Ashland, Oregon, along with the granite used in the building, while the wood and bricks used came from Salem. On April 1, 1903, the building opened and remained as the city's post office until a new federal building (currently the State Executive Office Building) opened on October 16, 1937.

In 1938, the building was moved to its present location at 12th and State Streets on Willamette University's campus. The building was moved intact on rollers down State Street in a process that took six months. Once on campus the structure served as home to Willamette’s law school. Gatke was placed at the same location as the original campus building built in the 1840s. That three-story building originally housed the Oregon Institute, but burned down in 1871. In 1939, the College of Law moved into its new home.

Then in 1952 the building received the Lady Justice statue that had adorned the Marion County Courthouse. Gatke housed the College of Law until 1967 when it relocated across campus to its current home in the Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center. With the move, the law school also took a portion of the ornate grillwork that had been custom made for the school. In 1967, Willamette's political science department took over the building and remained there until 1986.