Halifax County Courthouse is a historic county

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

located at Halifax,

Halifax County, North Carolina Halifax County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,622. Its county seat is Halifax. Halifax County is part of the Roanoke Rapids, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

. It was designed by architects Wheeler & Stern and built in 1909–1910. It is a three-story, tan brick,

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

style building. It has a tetrastyle

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

flanked by two-story flat roofed wings and a two-stage

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

atop a shallow mansard roof. The first Halifax county courthouse was built in 1759. In 1847, the first courthouse was replaced by a second, which itself was replaced in 1910 by a third courthouse erected on the site of the second courthouse. The 1910 courthouse was the present courthouse in 1938, the same year the famed 1938 photo of the drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn was taken. A stone marker currently stands on the courthouse lawn where the photographed drinking fountain resided. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places 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 ...

in 1979. Drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina.jpg, Drinking fountain on the Halifax County Courthouse lawn, April 1938 ( Farm Security Administration photograph by

John Vachon John Felix Vachon (May 19, 1914 – April 20, 1975) was a world traveling American photographer. Vachon is remembered most for his photography working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) as part of the New Deal and for contributions to ' ...

)

References

Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Neoclassical architecture in North Carolina Government buildings completed in 1910 County courthouses in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Halifax, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Halifax County, North Carolina Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in North Carolina {{HalifaxCountyNC-NRHP-stub