Nomination Form
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.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia
