Downtown police headquarters closes, to be replaced
Public notice was given recently regarding the closure and planned demolition and replacement of the 1965-era, downtown headquarters for the Riverside Police Department.
Located at 4102 Orange Street, the 33,000 square-foot, two-story (plus basement) building was designed by Riverside-based architectural firm of Ruhnau, Evans, Brown & Steinmann. It contained a pistol firing range and other modern features for its time, including an extensive “revolving” filing system and private interview rooms. Also included was a tunnel running under Orange Street connecting to the Riverside County Courthouse and jail.
In October 1961, voters approved a $985,000 bond for the new police building, just months after a similar bond issue in April 1961 barely failed to receive the necessary two-thirds approval. Voters in the October special election also passed a library bond that included money for a new downtown library (currently The Cheech art museum), which would open about the same time as the new police headquarters.
The City began buying the necessary property for the new police station in May of 1961. The location had been determined by a “civic center” committee composed of citizens and business leaders who selected the site based primarily on the recommendation of then Chief of Police Jack Bennett who cited the site’s proximity to similar law enforcement uses (courthouse, jail, district attorney, etc.). The site was once home to Eden Lutheran Church, which built its church on the southeast corner of Eleventh and Orange streets in 1892. In September 1953, Eden Lutheran relocated to a newly built structure at 4275 Brockton Avenue, where it remains today.
In May 1963, ground was broken for the $1.2 million “Riverside Police Department and Emergency Operations Center” (as initially known) with move-in of the department beginning on December 31, 1964. In addition to the $985,000 in general obligation bonds, the new building was funded in part by Federal Civil Defense monies (approximately $250,000). These funds applied to several areas in the basement that were designed for quick conversion for emergency operations in case of a nuclear attack. Part of the nuclear-era design reportedly included a two-foot thick, concrete ceiling over the basement. The two remaining, above-ground floors were designed for normal police use.
When formally dedicated on February 26, 1965, the building was among a handful of new and soon-to-be civic buildings downtown. The police station’s striking Mid-Century Modern architecture – with white vertical pilasters, strong semi-angular cornice, and Brutalist-style window overhangs over rose-colored brick facing with some flagstone accents – was another sign that Riverside was moving forward during the modern, post-war era. At the dedication ceremonies was longtime Chief of Police for Los Angeles, William H. Parker (namesake for LAPD’s former headquarters known as Parker Center that was demolished in 2019).
Part of constructing the new police building included creating a block-long pedestrian walkway on a vacated portion of Eleventh Street between Orange and Lemon streets (and between the police building and the County Health Building). This walkway, initially agreed to by both the City and County in 1962, was to be part of a larger pedestrian walkway envisioned for Eleventh (between Lime and Main streets) connecting various City/County offices planned for the area. Though the walkway didn’t fully materialize, Eleventh Street has been mostly vacated within these blocks for similar purposes.
Adjacent to the police station in the pedestrian walkway near Orange, is a peace officers’ monument – “Safe in his Arms” – that was placed in May 1983. Nearby is a much smaller monument placed in November 1971 that honors Riverside Police officers Leonard Christiansen and Paul Teel, who were ambushed during a reported burglary call to a residence in April 1971. Also near this monument is an unrelated time capsule placed by the County in January 1971, stating it’s to be opened in 200 years (2171).
Prior to the move to Eleventh and Orange, the two most-recent locations for Riverside’s police department were close by. Starting around 1930, the City took over the County’s former Moorish-Spanish-styled jail located on the opposite corner across Orange Street from the 1965-era police station. And beginning around January 1947, the department began working out of the former Federal Building/U.S. Post Office located at Seventh (now Mission Inn Avenue) and Orange streets.
Joining the police within the old Post Office in March 1947 was the city’s museum, though initially relegated to storage within the basement. A moderate refurbishment of the basement area in August 1951 allowed for some displaying of museum artifacts. However, in January 1966, the museum took over the building as its own following the December 1964 departure of the police and a year-long renovation for museum purposes. Today, the 1912-era building is again undergoing refurbishment as part of a long-sought – and oft-delayed – $32.8 million renovation and expansion for the Museum of Riverside, which has been shuttered since 2017.
By 1984, however, the 1965-era police station was reportedly cramped and outdated, prompting a short-lived plan for the County to buy the station for use as Sheriff’s offices, with intentions to build a new, 500-bed jail on the parking lot at the rear. The City would then use the money to help build a new police headquarters on a portion of the block bounded by Market, Main, Eleventh, and Twelfth streets. However, by October of that year, the City withdrew due to lack of money. Thus, the County chose to build its new multi-story jail (Presley Detention Center) one block north from the 1965-era police building. Opened in September 1988, the new County jail tower at Tenth and Orange streets sits on the opposite side of County Health Building, which was repurposed into the Sheriff’s offices instead of the police building.
As for the City, it stayed in the Orange Street police building and eventually opened two police substations elsewhere in Riverside: 8181 Lincoln Street (November 1988; at the City’s corporation yard); and 10540 Magnolia Avenue (July 2006; within a portion of a former Costco building near Tyler Street). Another attempt to move from the Orange Street station surfaced in 2011, but RPD again remained, reportedly extending its land lease with the County in 2017 (the County apparently retained land ownership as part of the uncompleted 1984 purchase plan).
Today’s soon-to-be built new police building came about following the setting aside by the City in 2017 of $45 million from the voter-approved Measure Z. And in July 2025, the City agreed to proceed with building designs from La Quinta-based Holt Architecture.
As currently proposed, the two-story (plus basement), 38,000 square foot structure will be slightly larger than the current building, but with modern/seismic upgrades and additional secured parking. In addition, current renderings of the $62 million dollar structure show the building sitting on a portion of the Eleventh Street pedestrian walkway. With regards to the monuments within the pedestrian walkway, it appears the “Safe in His Arms” monument will be spared. Unclear is what is to become of the 1971 time capsule, Christiansen & Teel monument, and the few raincross light standards. We presume the monument will be saved and/or relocated. We hope the same for the time capsule and raincross lights as well.
As for the style of architecture of the new structure, we’re not yet sold. Our first impression of the renderings is that it’s a miss. Indeed, we fully appreciate a modern-looking building with treatments that pay homage to the past and are glad to see such an attempt. As such, we like the brick facing as well as the asymmetrical window treatments (both nods to MCM) and even appreciate the raincross on the back elevation. However, in our opinion, the design appears neither forward-looking nor backward-looking enough. In addition, the main entrance – at least we think it’s the main entrance – looks like an afterthought. Thus, without access to the finer details possibly not apparent in the renderings, the overall look feels bland and a bit too ordinary.
The saving grace of the design may indeed be the understated use of colored brick (as opposed to stucco), which at least looks forward as well as pays homage to the Mid-Century Modern, rose-colored brick-faced building it’ll replace. However, we feel it probably would look much better to pair the dark brown accents with Mediterranean/Spanish Colonial-styled white colored brick (instead of Taco Bell beige). At the very least, a color change on the overall building from beige would do wonders. And a reimagined front entrance wouldn’t hurt either.
In providing reasons for needing to replace the 1965-era building, Riverside Police Department stated the building suffered from “recurring plumbing failures,” as well as HVAC and overall power issues and storage constraints. And although we don’t discount any of those reasons and agree the police department has long outgrown the facility, it’s sad to lose significant public and civic structures that – by nature of when and where they were built – add context to the city’s overall history.
Indeed, such organic and contrasting architecture styles adds flavor to downtown Riverside’s landscape. One can often envision the city’s growth and aspirations simply by the size, style, and period of architecture – for better or worse – embodied within these civic structures. Thus, as fans of Mid-Century Modern architecture, we’re saddened to see the 1965-era police structure demolished. And although not our favorite Ruhnau-designed building, we will still lament the loss of one of the firm’s MCM buildings, not to mention a piece of the City’s growth and history.
According to RPD, the last day of public use for the 1965-era building was May 29, 2026, with the public being redirected to the Magnolia Station. Demolition of the downtown station is expected by the end of 2026 with a completion date for the new building projected for late 2028.
Related
- Riverside Press-Enterprise – Riverside downtown police station closes for demolition, construction of new headquarters (May 2026) | Riverside OKs $3.3 million contract for police headquarters redesign (July 2025)
- Raincross Gazette – Budget Commission Endorses $62 Million Police HQ Plan; Awaits Council Approval (June 2025)
- Holt Architecture – Riverside Police HQ | Tilden-Coil Constructors – Riverside Police HQ
- City of Riverside – Police HQ Report (July 2025) | RPD Facebook Announcement (May 2026)
- Ruhnau Clarke Architects
Sources: Riverside Police Department; City of Riverside; Holt Architecture; Tilden-Coil Constructors; 1964 Police Station dedication postcard; Raincross Gazette (RG-20250617); Riverside Press-Enterprise (RE-19461120, RDP-19470127, RPD-19470321, RPD-19470328, RPD-19510813, RDP-19530919, RDP-19530928, RDP-19600212, DE-19610420, RP-19610510, DE-19610914, RP-19611010, DE-19611018, PE-19620704, PE-19620830, RP-19620918, DE-19631017, PE-19641004, RP-19641229, DE-19650226, PE-19660130, PE-19710116, PE-19710403, PE-19711113, PE-19830514, PE-19830918, PE-19840302, PE-19841031, PE-19861107, PE-19880814, PE-19881118, PE-19890921, PE-20060708, PE-20110730, PE-20150816, PE-20170219, PE-20170310, PEC-20250410, PEC-20250628, PE-20250702, PEC-20260529); NOTE: Published dates for some online versions of newspaper articles cited may not match their archival source date.
