Nomination Form
One of nearly 200 buildings designed by Staunton architect T. J. Collins, the Rockingham County Courthouse in the Harrisonburg Downtown Historic District reveals his mastery of the fashionable Richardsonian Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles of the late 19th century. The building was constructed by the Washington, D.C., firm of W. E. Spiers between 1896 and 1897, and is the fifth courthouse to stand on the site since Rockingham was formed from Augusta County in 1778. The courthouse, one of Virginia’s grandest of the period, reflects Rockingham County’s late-19th-century prosperity. Collins even outfitted the second floor with an auditorium for public entertainments. With its lively and contrasting elevations and lofty clock tower, all faced with rough hewn sandstone ashlar, the Rockingham County Courthouse remains Harrisonburg’s most prominent architectural landmark.
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
