Appomattox County Courthouse
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Visitor Center (Appomattox County Courthouse)
1964 reconstruction, J. Everette Fauber Jr.
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(Photograph by Mark Mones) -
(Photograph by Mark Mones) -
(Photograph by Mark Mones)
The convincing exterior reconstruction is based on historic photographs of the 1846 courthouse that burned in 1892. This Greek Revival Virginia courthouse that reflects the influence of Jeffersonian classicism appears more domestic and informal than most. Beneath a hipped roof, the rectangular one story over a raised basement brick building was entered on the front and the rear by two-story, single-bay porches with steep steps leading to the upper-story entrances. Built in the classic red brick with white trim and dark-green shutters, it has wooden lintels over the openings, a wooden dentil cornice, and tall sash windows on the upper floor. The courthouse was closed the day of Lee's surrender, Palm Sunday, and perhaps that is why, in contrast to the exterior's re-creation of the original, the interior is given over to modern conveniences for a visitors' center. Its entrance hall has a curved cantilevered staircase of oak and steel that is especially noteworthy for its graceful modernist design. Outside, the courthouse's latticed well house was reconstructed over the original well.
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