{"nrhp_refnum":"79002208","name":"Clarion County Courthouse and Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clarion","county":"Clarion County","state":"PA","lat":41.21543904950005,"lon":-79.38563447281848,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Clarion County Courthouse and the attached castle-like county jail, located in the borough of Clarion, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, with the jail situated behind the courthouse. The present courthouse, completed in 1885, is a variation of a Victorian structure with Classical details.","why_significant":"The nomination describes the courthouse as a fine Victorian structure on a monumental scale and identifies the courthouse and its jail as the center of county government. It is argued to be architecturally significant as a late nineteenth-century courthouse and jail, and significant for politics and government as the seat of county government.","narrative":"Completed in 1885 in Clarion, the courthouse is a variation of a Victorian structure with Classical details, rising 213 feet to the top of its tower, which is surmounted by a galvanized iron figure of justice. Its brick and stone walls are 22 inches thick, and the court room measures 74 feet long, 55 feet wide and 45 feet high. Architect E. M. Butz of Allegheny designed the building, which was built by P. H. Melvin after a contract awarded in 1883. Interior fresco work was executed by Henry Warner of Allegheny, and tile floors were laid by the Star Encaustic Tile Company of Pittsburgh. Behind it stands the jail, a half brick, half stone structure with a square battlemented tower and 20 cells arranged in two tiers around an interior corridor. The courthouse is significant as the center of county government, replacing earlier buildings lost to fires in 1859 and 1882.","period_of_significance":"1885","architect_builder":"E. M. Butz of Allegheny (architect); P. H. Melvin (builder)","architectural_style":"Victorian with Classical details","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Good condition, altered","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.956778-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002208.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002208/7daaacc1fe-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002208/7daaacc1fe-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Nicholas A. Tonelli","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarion_County_Pennsylvania_Courthouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicholas A. Tonelli</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarion_County_Pennsylvania_Courthouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995055","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarion_County_Courthouse_and_Jail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5127024"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/clarion-county/clarion-county-courthouse-and-jail-79002208/"}