Prince William County Courthouse is a historic

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 9248 Lee Avenue, Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia. Rehabilitated in 2000–2001, it currently houses some offices of the Prince William County clerk, and the historic courtroom upstairs can be rented for events.

History

The county's fifth courthouse was built in 1892–1893, on land donated by former Union officer and Virginia lawyer and delegate

George Carr Round George Carr Round (September 14, 1839 – November 5, 1918) was a Union soldier (and later officer) who settled in Prince William County, Virginia after the American Civil War. He became a lawyer, superintendent of public instruction in Manass ...

. After several legal disputes, including one decided by the

Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...

, the county government moved to this building near the county's most important railroad station, from the centrally located but increasingly isolated

Brentsville Courthouse and Jail Brentsville Courthouse and Jail is a historic courthouse and jail located at Brentsville, Prince William County, Virginia. The courthouse was built in 1822, and is a two-story, Federal style brick building. It features a fanlight over the main en ...

. This became the county's courthouse in 1897. On July 21, 1911, U.S. President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

and Virginia Governor

William Hodges Mann William Hodges Mann (July 30, 1843 – December 12, 1927) was an American lawyer, Confederate soldier and Democratic politician who became the first judge of Nottoway County, Virginia and the last Confederate veteran to serve as the Governor of ...

shook hands on the courthouse lawn during the

Manassas Peace Jubilee The Manassas Peace Jubilee was a celebration that began 50 years after the start of the American Civil War, and was held in Manassas, Virginia, mostly between July 16 and July 21, 1911. This first major Civil War veterans' reunion marked fifty yea ...

commemorating the 50th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major conflict of the American Civil War. The town of Manassas became large enough for the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate it as a city in the 1970s, which caused several complications for the old courthouse. After negotiations, title to the courthouse building and the jail (razed years later) remained in the County, and various town (city) offices moved out of the building. The county property became surrounded by city land, much of which became included in a national historic district in 2004. Meanwhile, by 1980, the space had become too cramped for judicial operations in the growing county, so another courthouse was built about a mile away. This building continued actively use as a county courthouse until 1982. The current (modern) courthouse containing both the Prince William Circuit Court and the Prince William District Court is at 9311 Lee Avenue in Manassas, VA 20110, and has several parking lots nearby.http://www.pwcgov.org/government/courts/circuit/Pages/Judicial-Complex-Parking.aspx

Architecture

The two-story, Romanesque style polychromatic brick building measures 52 feet by 60 feet and has a hipped roof. The front facade is symmetrical and features a projecting central bay forming a three-story clock tower topped with a

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 ...

. an
''Accompanying four photos''
/ref> It was added to 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 2004.

References

County courthouses in Virginia Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Romanesque Revival architecture in Virginia Government buildings completed in 1893 Buildings and structures in Manassas, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Prince William County, Virginia {{PrinceWilliamCountyVA-NRHP-stub