William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse, Federal courthouse in downtown Seattle, United States.

The William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse is a ten-story federal courthouse in downtown Seattle, Washington. It has five courtrooms with tall windows, terracotta panels on its exterior, and polished terrazzo floors running through its interior halls.

The building was completed in 1940 and was the first courthouse in the western United States built solely for federal court use. It received its current name in 2001, when Congress honored William Kenzo Nakamura, who had been awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

The courthouse was renamed in 2001 for Seattle-born Private First Class William Kenzo Nakamura, who was sent with his family to a Japanese American internment camp before joining the U.S. Army in 1942. He was killed near Castellina, Italy, on July 4, 1944, while protecting his platoon, and received the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2000. Naturalization ceremonies for immigrants to the Pacific Northwest were once held in this building.

The courthouse sits in central Seattle and is easy to reach on foot from many parts of downtown. As an active federal court, access inside is limited to public areas, and visitors should expect a security check at the entrance.

Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the building with a neoclassical temple-style front and Art Deco details layered onto a concrete frame, a combination that was unusual for its time. Underwood also designed lodges in several national parks, which gives this downtown courthouse an unexpected connection to the American outdoors tradition.