Yates County Courthouse Park District
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Courthouse Park in Penn Yan, New York, is the only downtown open space in the village and anchors a small district of four brick buildings on about two acres. The land comes from Abraham Wagener's 1823 gift of a two-acre plot to the new Yates County for its seat. The Greek Revival courthouse of 1835 replaced an earlier building lost to fire in 1834. Beside it stands the Romanesque Revival County Office Building of 1889, built on the site of the former clerk's office. The Georgian Revival Old County Jail of 1904, designed by William Beardsley of Poughkeepsie, anchors the west side. The First Baptist Church, dedicated in 1871, is a Romanesque Revival building whose tower was rebuilt in 1899. A Civil War monument of 1883 and later memorials stand in the shaded park. The district was listed for keeping its nineteenth-century character and for representing the civic architecture of rural Yates County. Later rear additions are not conspicuous from the park.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29).
| Styles | Greek Revival (Courthouse), Romanesque Revival (County Office Building, First Baptist Church), Georgian Revival (Old County Jail) |
|---|---|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Yates County Courthouse Park District (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.