{"nrhp_refnum":"75002043","name":"U.S. Post Office and Courthouse","other_names":["Big Stone Gap Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"U.S. 58","address_restricted":false,"city":"Big Stone Gap","county":"Wise County","state":"VA","lat":36.866589662000024,"lon":-82.77489194799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-12-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story stone post office and federal courthouse in the central business district of Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Virginia, built 1911-13 in the Second Renaissance Revival style, modeled on a Florentine palace.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a fine example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture, unusually large and lavish for a small town just emerging from long isolation. Its importance is increased by the survival of early hardware, plumbing, heating and electric fixtures and specially designed furniture, especially in the courtroom.","narrative":"Standing on the main street of Big Stone Gap, this three-story stone building served as both post office and federal courthouse. Built between 1911 and 1913 and modeled on a Florentine palace, it has a rusticated ground floor, round-headed windows, and a Tuscan portico of four pairs of coupled columns. A rear pavilion with tall arched windows marks the courtroom. Federal funds of about $100,000 were appropriated, and the final cost was $94,000. James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, oversaw the design before his successor Oscar Wenderoth completed it; Plowman Construction Company built it. The building was listed for its architecture and for its lavish materials, which were unusual in a town barely twenty-five years old and only recently connected by rail. Although the first floor was renovated for postal use, the upper floors keep original furniture, brass hardware, fixtures and a richly detailed courtroom. At the time of listing, the Postal Service planned to demolish it, and local citizens opposed the plan.","period_of_significance":"1911-13","architect_builder":"James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect (succeeded by James A. Wetmore, 1912; Oscar Wenderoth, 1914); Plowman Construction Co., Builders","architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a post office and for federal agency offices; the courtroom is used only occasionally. The Postal Service was planning demolition, which drew citizen opposition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.366159-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/6841/41684186/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/75002043.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002043/0907a1d6a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002043/0907a1d6a9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"U.S. Marshals Service","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Stone_Gap_COurthouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Marshals Service</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Stone_Gap_COurthouse.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100003482","name":"Big Stone Gap Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/big-stone-gap-downtown-historic-district-100003482/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41684186","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Bascom_Slemp_Federal_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891085"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/wise-county/u-s-post-office-and-courthouse-75002043/"}