{"nrhp_refnum":"70000797","name":"Goochland County Court Square","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"On VA 6","address_restricted":false,"city":"Goochland","county":"Goochland County","state":"VA","lat":37.682826419000065,"lon":-77.88427626444123,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A county court square in Goochland, Virginia, centered on the 1826 Goochland County Court House, a two-story brick temple-form building with a Tuscan portico. It sits on a two-acre walled square with a jail, clerk's office and Confederate monument.","why_significant":"The court house is one of the best preserved Roman Revival or Jeffersonian court houses in Piedmont Virginia. It shows Thomas Jefferson's influence on the masons who worked for him and his idea of ancient Roman architecture as a model for the young Republic. Together with the clerk's office, jail and wall, it shows what a rural nineteenth-century county seat needed.","narrative":"Goochland County Court Square is the civic heart of the county seat, a two-acre walled square dominated by the county court house of 1826. The two-story brick building follows a temple form with a pedimented Tuscan portico, red brick, white trim and green louvered shutters. The front wall is laid in Flemish bond, and most of the original six-over-six window sash survives. Inside, the original gallery and its two staircases remain, along with some early wooden benches. A 1955 rear addition and a 1966 arcade joining an annex are later changes. Other structures on the square include an 1848 stone jail, the original one-story brick clerk's office and a Confederate monument. The court house was built by Dabney Cosby and Valentine Parrish, who supplied the design. Cosby had worked for Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, which probably explains the Jeffersonian character. The group shows how a rural county seat functioned in the nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1826)","architect_builder":"Dabney Cosby and Valentine Parrish","architectural_style":"Roman Revival / Jeffersonian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked good and altered; the interior has been renovated and a 1955 rear addition and 1966 arcade to an annex were added. The form's present use is government.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.395625-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/6809/41680973/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/70000797.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000797/ad6f554c8f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000797/ad6f554c8f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jack Boucher","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goochland_County_Courthouse,_East_Side_of_U.S._Route_522,_Goochland,_(Goochland_County,_Virginia).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Boucher</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goochland_County_Courthouse,_East_Side_of_U.S._Route_522,_Goochland,_(Goochland_County,_Virginia).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680973","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goochland_County_Court_Square","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712379"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/goochland-county/goochland-county-court-square-70000797/"}