{"nrhp_refnum":"79001723","name":"Henderson County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1st and Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hendersonville","county":"Henderson County","state":"NC","lat":35.31461234600005,"lon":-82.46024245099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story tan brick county courthouse on the main street of Hendersonville, Henderson County, North Carolina, built in 1904 to designs by architect R. S. Smith of Asheville.","why_significant":"It is an early example of Neo-Classical Revival design among North Carolina courthouses, crowned by a three-stage cupola topped with a statue of Blind Justice. It replaced an 1845 brick courthouse judged unsafe in 1903 and is included as part of a thematic group of North Carolina courthouses.","narrative":"Hendersonville's county courthouse, completed in 1904, is a three-story tan brick building on the town's main street. Henderson County was created in 1838, and its first courthouse, a wooden building, went up in 1840 before a brick one replaced it in 1845. In 1903 the county commissioners, advised that the old building was unsafe and its records endangered, resolved to build anew. They set aside Frank P. Milburn's plans and adopted those of Asheville architect R. S. Smith, authorizing $38,000. The result is an early Neo-Classical Revival design with a rusticated front pavilion, a pedimented hexastyle composite portico, tetrastyle side porticoes and a modillion cornice. A three-stage cupola with a columned drum and domical roof carries a statue of Blind Justice. Inside, a transverse hall with an octagonal circulation area, granite floors and brick wainscot give a plain finish. Additions, parking and a remodeled courtroom have altered the setting and interior.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"R. S. Smith of Asheville","architectural_style":"Neo-Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Additions and public parking have eroded the site; the courtroom was recently remodeled, with its gallery enclosed and round arch windows filled with wood paneling.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.496075-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/7180/47718009/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79001723.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001723/96ab2dd883-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001723/96ab2dd883-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Todd McDougal","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henderson_County,_NC_1905_Courthouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Todd McDougal</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henderson_County,_NC_1905_Courthouse.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"06001140","name":"Main Street Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/main-street-historic-district-boundary-increase-06001140/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718009","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henderson_County_Courthouse_(North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5713264"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/henderson-county/henderson-county-courthouse-79001723/"}