{"nrhp_refnum":"70000876","name":"Portsmouth Courthouse","other_names":["Norfolk County Courthouse"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE corner of Court and High Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Portsmouth (Independent City)","county":"Portsmouth","state":"VA","lat":36.83545220000008,"lon":-76.30119366999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-04-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival court house at the northeast corner of Court and High Streets in Portsmouth, Virginia, built in 1846 as the Norfolk County Court House. It is a solid masonry building with a gray painted brick exterior.","why_significant":"It is the oldest public building in Portsmouth and was designed by a Portsmouth native, William B. Singleton. It survives as a distinguished example of Greek Revival governmental architecture in a state noted for its Greek Revival court houses. It also serves as the judicial center of the city.","narrative":"Built in 1846 as the Norfolk County Court House, this Greek Revival building stands at the corner of Court and High Streets in Portsmouth, Virginia. It measures about seventy-eight by fifty-seven feet and rises one story above a ground-level basement. Its solid brick walls are painted gray and trimmed with cut stone. A paneled parapet and a Doric entablature crown the walls, supported by plain Doric pilasters. The main entrance is a projecting four-column Doric portico on High Street, moved there around 1867 when the original recessed portico on Court Street was closed. The original domed cupola has been removed. Portsmouth native William B. Singleton designed the building, and Willoughby G. Butler built it. The county used it until 1960, and the city shared it after Portsmouth became independent in 1858. As the city's oldest public building, it is valued as a compact, gracefully proportioned example of Greek Revival court house design.","period_of_significance":"1846","architect_builder":"Architect William B. Singleton; builder Willoughby G. Butler","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in fair condition and altered; owned by the City of Portsmouth and occupied for government use. A cover letter says city officials were to vacate it that summer and its fate was uncertain.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.529717-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/6826/41682604/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/70000876.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000876/31e9bc4725-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000876/31e9bc4725-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portsmouth,_Virginia_(8597911744).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portsmouth,_Virginia_(8597911744).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03001485","name":"Downtown Portsmouth Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/downtown-portsmouth-historic-district-03001485/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682604","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16898709"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/portsmouth/portsmouth-courthouse-70000876/"}