{"nrhp_refnum":"81000420","name":"Belhaven City Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belhaven","county":"Beaufort County","state":"NC","lat":35.539225689000034,"lon":-76.61070280799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-01-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half story brick municipal building on Main Street in Belhaven, Beaufort County, North Carolina, built in 1910-1911 to a design by local carpenter W. T. Kirk and constructed by mason C. F. Doughty.","why_significant":"It is the town's major landmark and the most visible reminder of Belhaven's turn-of-the-century prosperity as a lumbering center after the railroad arrived. It is also one of the oldest of the few non-commercial brick buildings in Beaufort County and the best attempt at high-style design in Belhaven in that period. Its designer, contractor and construction are well documented.","narrative":"Belhaven City Hall is a two-and-a-half story brick building on Main Street, built in 1910-1911 when the town was thriving as a lumber center. W. T. Kirk, a local carpenter, designed it, and mason C. F. Doughty built it with Kirk overseeing the woodwork. The brick walls are topped by a wood-shingled pediment and a belfry with scrollwork brackets. Originally the first floor held market stalls, the fire department and the town clerk's office, while the second floor was a large auditorium. The town financed construction with bonds. Town offices have occupied the building continuously, and since 1954 they have filled the whole first floor. The museum opened upstairs in 1967 and holds items such as 30,000 buttons and a preserved eight-legged pig. The building was listed for its link to the railroad-and-lumber boom, its role as a civic landmark unusually large for a small town, and its rare brick construction in a county dominated by frame buildings. Archeological remains may also survive on the site.","period_of_significance":"1911","architect_builder":"W. T. Kirk; C. F. Doughty","architectural_style":"Late-Victorian vernacular features","criteria":["A","B","D"],"status_note":"Still in use as town offices on the first floor, with the Belhaven Memorial Museum on the second floor; the form lists it as occupied and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.41905-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/7190/47719015/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/81000420.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000420/bd5ff8b326-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000420/bd5ff8b326-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Property Wizard","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Belhaven_Town_Hall.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Property Wizard</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:Old_Belhaven_Town_Hall.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719015","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belhaven_City_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17985823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/beaufort-county/belhaven-city-hall-81000420/"}