Halifax County Courthouse is a historic county

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

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 ...

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

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

-style building. It has a tetrastyle

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

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 cu ...

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

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

photograph by

John Vachon John Felix Vachon (May 19, 1914 – April 20, 1975) was an 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 '' Look'' magazin ...

)

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 1910 establishments in North Carolina Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina {{HalifaxCountyNC-NRHP-stub