The Wise County Courthouse reflects the wealth reaped by the county from the expansion of the railroads and the increased mining of coal in the region at the turn of the 20th century. A rare use in Virginia of the Renaissance Revival style for a county courthouse, the building was completed in 1896 after plans by the prolific Washington, D.C., architect Frank P. Milburn, who worked throughout the South. Milburn’s Wise County courthouse is the third courthouse to serve the county. With its paired towers, lively massing, and well-articulated masonry detailing, the Wise County Courthouse building has a palatial air and is perhaps the most successful of the several courthouses Milburn designed for Southwest Virginia counties.