{"nrhp_refnum":"73001452","name":"Guernsey County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Courthouse Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Guernsey County","state":"OH","lat":40.02510527000004,"lon":-81.63701197699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A county courthouse on Courthouse Square in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio, built from 1881 to 1883 in the Second Empire style. It was designed by architect J. W. Yost, with T. B. Townsend as major contractor.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an excellent example of Second Empire design and ties it to the courthouse building boom in Ohio between 1870 and 1890. It is the third courthouse in Cambridge and the work of J. W. Yost, who designed or helped design nearly ten surviving nineteenth century Ohio courthouses.","narrative":"Guernsey County Courthouse in Cambridge, Ohio, is a three-story building with a raised basement and mansard roof, built between 1881 and 1883 at a cost of $102,511. Designed by architect J. W. Yost and built by contractor T. B. Townsend, it is a Second Empire building of rock-faced sandstone, about 120 feet square. Porches with Corinthian columns shelter the south and west entrances, and a statue of Justice sits in the broken pediment on the south front. A central tower rises about eighty feet above the roof and carries four clock faces. Inside, heavy oak wainscoting and large cast iron stairways give a massive character. It was the third courthouse in Cambridge, replacing a rectilinear hipped-roof building with a tower. The county chose to build during an Ohio courthouse building boom from 1870 to 1890. Yost, or his firm Yost and Packard, designed nearly ten surviving nineteenth century courthouses in the state. The courthouse remains in county use and is in excellent repair.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (built 1881-1883)","architect_builder":"J. W. Yost (architect); T. B. Townsend (major contractor)","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and an excellent state of repair, occupied and in government use as the county courthouse.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.814266-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/73001452.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001452/b1cf1ef28d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001452/b1cf1ef28d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bwsmith84 (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guernsey_County_Courthouse_002.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bwsmith84 (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guernsey_County_Courthouse_002.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988786","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernsey_County_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5614893"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/guernsey-county/guernsey-county-courthouse-73001452/"}