National Register of Historic Places
United States Post Office and Court House
Harrisonburg (I), Harrisonburg County, Virginia
The record
- Listed
- September 21, 2018
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 116 N Main St., Harrisonburg (I)
- County
- Harrisonburg
- State
- Virginia
- Coordinates
- 38.44429, -78.87388
- Reference number
- 100002992
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
University Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The United States Post Office and Court House is a Classical Revival government building at 116 N Main St. in Harrisonburg, built between 1934 and 1941 and listed in the National Register in 2018. Louis A. Simon and Rudolph Stanley-Brown were its architects.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A and C, with significance in architecture, politics and government, law and social history at the state and local levels. Its period of significance runs from 1940 to 1943, covering the building's completion, and again from 1956 to 1968, when Judge John Paul Jr. issued Virginia's first desegregation order.
Physical character
The building has a granite foundation, brick walls, and a copper roof, fronted by a portico with six massive Doric columns. Interior terrazzo floors, oak paneled doors, and a mural by William Calfee, removed for restoration in 1971, survive alongside a 1996 renovation for a new courtroom and a 2005-2007 restoration by GSA.
Historical context
The Harrisonburg post office dates to 1798 and took the town's name in 1818, later moving to Main Street between 1856 and 1865. Federal courts were meeting in the city by 1871, and in 1958 the courthouse was the site of further desegregation rulings.