{"nrhp_refnum":"80000990","name":"Clarke County Jail","other_names":["Old Clarke County Jail"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Courthouse Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Athens","county":"Clarke County","state":"GA","lat":33.95957713700005,"lon":-83.38484552599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Law","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, stuccoed brick county jail on the old courthouse square behind 419 Pope Street in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, built 1875-1876 to designs by Leon H. Charbonnier.","why_significant":"The jail is the only surviving building of the original courthouse complex built in the late Reconstruction era, and it is rare among Georgia jails for its fireproof construction and scored stucco exterior. It is also tied to county government, serving as the county jail for decades after the county seat moved to Athens. Its architect was a prominent University of Georgia engineering professor.","narrative":"Built in 1875-1876, the Clarke County Jail in Athens is a rectangular two-story building of brick covered in plaster scored to look like stone. It measures twenty-seven by forty-seven feet and has a tin box roof, five chimneys, and an exterior wooden stair to the upper door. Inside, an I-beam frame, curved corrugated iron vaults and poured-concrete floors made the building fireproof by the standards of its day. Leon H. Charbonnier, a French-born professor of engineering at the University of Georgia, designed the jail as part of a courthouse complex after the county seat moved from Watkinsville to Athens. It is the only intact structure left from that square, since the courthouse was demolished and the jailer's house was being torn down. The jail held prisoners until a new courthouse opened in 1913, and the scored stucco finish is unknown on other Georgia jails of the period. Its interior has been altered, windows are gone, and the building is vacant and deteriorated.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect: Leon H. Charbonnier","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant and deteriorated, with altered interior; awaiting a plan for re-use.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.07236-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/80000990.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000990/f1f8d15e6d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000990/f1f8d15e6d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Judson McCranie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarke_County_Jail,_Athens,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Judson McCranie</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarke_County_Jail,_Athens,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"78000973","name":"Cobbham Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/cobbham-historic-district-78000973/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207438","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134286971"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/clarke-county/clarke-county-jail-80000990/"}