{"nrhp_refnum":"83003277","name":"Clarke County Courthouse (Old)","other_names":["General District Courts Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"104 N. Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berryville","county":"Clarke County","state":"VA","lat":39.151842335000026,"lon":-77.98062429099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-07-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A temple-form Roman Revival courthouse on a tree-shaded square at 104 North Church Street in Berryville, Clarke County, Virginia, built in 1837-38 and designed by David Meade. The nominated square also includes a ca. 1880 former clerk's office and a ca. 1900 jail and sheriff's office.","why_significant":"The courthouse is presented as an excellent example of Virginia's Roman Revival courthouses, which followed the public building designs of Thomas Jefferson. Its tetrastyle Tuscan portico and precise Flemish-bond brick follow the Jeffersonian model. It served as the county courthouse from the county's formation until 1977.","narrative":"Set on a tree-shaded square in the center of Berryville, this brick courthouse was built in 1837-38 for the newly formed Clarke County. Magistrate David Meade, whose plan was accepted by the county justices, designed it; he died in November 1837 before it was finished. The building takes the form of a temple, with a tetrastyle Tuscan portico, an octagonal cupola, and a front wall of precise Flemish-bond brick. It follows the pattern Thomas Jefferson popularized with the State Capitol and later courthouses, a style carried across Virginia by workmen who had known his projects. A two-story addition and interior remodeling in the early 20th century altered the courtroom, but the original design remains clear. A local story of a fire around 1850 is not supported by the records. The courthouse served the county until a new one opened in 1977, and it now houses the General District Courts. The nominated square also holds an 1880s clerk's office and a jail and sheriff's office of about 1900.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"David Meade","architectural_style":"Roman Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Now used as the General District Courts Building and county office building; the original building retains its basic architectural integrity despite an early 20th-century addition and interior remodeling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.324321-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/6802/41680214/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/83003277.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003277/7f7b0a833f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003277/7f7b0a833f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DwayneP","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarke-County-Courthouse-Berryville-Virginia.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">DwayneP</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:Clarke-County-Courthouse-Berryville-Virginia.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87001881","name":"Berryville Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/berryville-historic-district-87001881/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680214","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Clarke_County_Courthouse_(Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713008"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/clarke-county/clarke-county-courthouse-old-83003277/"}