Charlotte County Courthouse (Virginia) Explained

Charlotte County Courthouse
Nrhp Type:cp
Nocat:yes
Designated Other1:Virginia Landmarks Register
Designated Other1 Date:February 19, 1980[1]
Designated Other1 Number:185-0001
Designated Other1 Num Position:bottom
Location:125 David Bruce Ave.,
Charlotte Court House, Virginia
Coordinates:37.0563°N -78.6377°W
Built:-1823
Architect:Jefferson, Thomas; Percival, John
Architecture:Early Republic, Late Victorian, Roman Revival
Added:May 7, 1980
Refnum:80004178

The Charlotte County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse complex located at Charlotte Court House, Charlotte County, Virginia. It was built in 1821–1823, and is a brick, temple-form structure, measuring approximately 45 feet wide and 71 feet deep. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is in the Charlotte Court House Historic District.

It features a tetrastyle Tuscan order portico with whitewashed stuccoed columns. It is based on plans supplied by Thomas Jefferson and is a prototype for numerous Roman Revival court buildings erected in Virginia in the 1830s and 1840s. Also on the property is a two-story, three-bay, brick office building used as a law office and a late Victorian Clerk's office, with a distinctive entrance tower and arched entrance.[2]

Joseph R. Holmes, a delegate to the 1868 Virginia Constitutional Convention, was murdered outside the courthouse in 1869. He and fellow delegate Edward Nelson, who testified about the murder, were both Republicans and African American.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Virginia Landmarks Register. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. 5 June 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053819/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm#. 2013-09-21. dead.
  2. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Charlotte County Courthouse . Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff . February 1980 . Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission . and Accompanying four photos
  3. Web site: Nelson, Edward (fl. 1867–1869) – Encyclopedia Virginia.