{"nrhp_refnum":"80001267","name":"Wilkes County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Court St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Washington","county":"Wilkes County","state":"GA","lat":33.738294317000054,"lon":-82.73921975499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Economics","Law","Politics/Government","Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Richardsonian Romanesque county courthouse on Court Street in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, built in 1904 to designs by architect Frank Milburn, with an attached jail behind it.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant for politics and government because Wilkes is Georgia's oldest county and has operated continuously since 1777. It is also significant in local history as the place for records and courts, and in architecture as one of few Richardsonian Romanesque courthouses in Georgia, linked to architect Frank Milburn.","narrative":"Built in 1904 on Court Street in Washington, Georgia, the Wilkes County Courthouse is a two-story building of orange pressed brick on rough-faced ashlar foundations. Its irregular massing includes a rounded turret-like tower, a low-arched entry, and round-arched upper windows with brick voussoirs and terra cotta ornament. A tall, steeply pitched roof was lost in a 1956 fire, and the roof is now flat. Behind it stands an attached jail, built at the same time and also designed by Frank Milburn, a Kentucky-born architect based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The courthouse was listed because Wilkes was the first county so named under Georgia's 1777 constitution and has operated continuously since then. The building holds records of wills, marriages and deeds, hosts court, and has been a community focal point. It is also valued as one of the few Georgia courthouses in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Frank Milburn","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good; the courthouse and jail have remained in continuous governmental use, and the original tall roof was destroyed in a 1956 fire.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.289493-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/80001267.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001267/0f41c9ae74-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001267/0f41c9ae74-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TampAGS, for AGS Media","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilkes_County_Courthouse,_Washington,_Georgia.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">TampAGS, for AGS Media</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:Wilkes_County_Courthouse,_Washington,_Georgia.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04001319","name":"Washington Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/washington-historic-district-04001319/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206726","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkes_County_Courthouse_(Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8002460"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/wilkes-county/wilkes-county-courthouse-80001267/"}