{"nrhp_refnum":"79001730","name":"Lenoir County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Queen and Kings Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.25849436800007,"lon":-77.57330451299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story modernistic county courthouse in the center of downtown Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina, designed in 1939 by A. Mitchell Wooten and John J. Rowland and completed in February 1940.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the courthouse is a rare and important example of the sleek modernistic style in an era dominated by classical eclecticism. Its ornament, including Indian plaques and tobacco leaf motifs, ties it to county history and economy. Its stripped design sets it apart from neighboring commercial buildings and from other courthouses in the state.","narrative":"Lenoir County Courthouse is a three-story, H-shaped government building in the center of downtown Kinston. Lenoir County's earlier courthouses were a wooden building of 1792, a brick building of 1845 that a court clerk burned in 1878, and a replacement erected in 1880. The present building was funded in 1939 through a bond issue, designed by A. Mitchell Wooten and John J. Rowland, built under the Federal Works Administration by contractor T. A. Loving, and finished in February 1940 after material delays. Faced in limestone veneer, it uses streamlined, stylized ornament and a portico of square fluted piers on the west facade. Relief plaques of Indians and tobacco leaves refer to county history and its tobacco economy. Inside, tan marble walls, black terrazzo floors, bronze railings and an oak-paneled second-floor courtroom carry the modernistic theme. Surrounded mostly by late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings, it stands out as a rare modernistic courthouse.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect A. Mitchell Wooten and John J. Rowland; contractor T. A. Loving","architectural_style":"Modernistic","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.037186-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7181/47718175/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79001730.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001730/969ea6d47d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001730/969ea6d47d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lenoir_County_Courthouse.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</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:Lenoir_County_Courthouse.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718175","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenoir_County_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19986774"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/lenoir-county-courthouse-79001730/"}