The Colonial Williamsburg Courthouse was constructed from 1770 to 1771 in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

. The courthouse is located facing Market Square with Duke of Gloucester Street running directly behind it. The property was acquired by Colonial Williamsburg in 1928, and was added to the

National Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as a contributing property to the Williamsburg Historic District on October 15, 1966. The courthouse once housed two separate court systems, one being the James City County Court, responsible for carrying out county cases, and the other, the Hustings Court, responsible for the city cases. The courthouse was built with red bricks with white wooden trim-boards and long arched windows with white shutters. A projected portico is located over one of the entrances and is unique in Georgian architecture. The hipped roof rests on an entablature with

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian R ...

moldings. The roof is pierced on both sides by a chimney and a central octagonal drum capped with a dome and a spire. The courthouse was the site where Benjamin Waller read aloud the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

on July 25, 1776, after it arrived from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The building was used as a hospital for the Confederate Army after the

Battle of Williamsburg The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pi ...

References

Further reading