{"nrhp_refnum":"70000802","name":"Old Isle of Wight Courthouse","other_names":["Isle of Wight County Court House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE corner of Main and Mason Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Smithfield","county":"Isle of Wight County","state":"VA","lat":36.981900447000044,"lon":-76.63198456899994,"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 mid-eighteenth-century brick county court house at the northeast corner of Main and Mason Streets in Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, built about 1750 and now restored to its original appearance.","why_significant":"The building is significant for its architecture. Its arcaded porch and T-shaped plan place it in a small, distinctive group of eighteenth-century Virginia court houses, along with those in Hanover, King William, Charles City and Richmond counties. It also records the county seat's move to Smithfield in 1752 and the long restoration of the building.","narrative":"Built around 1750 at the corner of Main and Mason Streets in Smithfield, this brick building served as the Isle of Wight County court house. It began as a one-story structure with a hipped roof and a rounded rear ell. The south facade has a five-bay arcaded porch of gauged, rubbed brick, and the brickwork is laid in Flemish bond above English bond. Smithfield was incorporated in 1752, and the county seat moved there with a court house, jail and clerk's office. When the county seat relocated to the center of the county in 1800, the court house became a private residence around 1812, gaining an upper story and dormers. Restoration began in 1938 under the local branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and was complete by 1961. Its porch arcade and T-shaped plan place it among a distinctive group of eighteenth-century Virginia court houses. The old courtroom now serves as a meeting room.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date 1750)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as excellent and the building is occupied. It is restored and used as a meeting room, and is owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.406784-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/6813/41681330/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/70000802.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000802/4a07cf79ed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000802/4a07cf79ed-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Greg Vassilakos","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smithfield_colonial_courthouse.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Greg Vassilakos</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smithfield_colonial_courthouse.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73002022","name":"Smithfield Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/smithfield-historic-district-73002022/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681330","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Isle_of_Wight_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084281"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/isle-of-wight-county/old-isle-of-wight-courthouse-70000802/"}