Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 04/17/1990
NRHP Listing Date 12/28/1990
NRHP Reference Number 90001998
The monumental Louisa County Courthouse is a symbol of the civic pride that permeated many rural counties across America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many such counties, the courthouse was the county’s only significant work of architecture. The porticoed structure was built in 1905 and is the third courthouse associated with the site, replacing a courthouse of 1818. Its architect, D. Wiley Anderson of Richmond, specialized in monumental classical designs, and gave the building prominence through the use of a large octagonal dome. Typical of Anderson’s works, the courthouse has an exaggerated verticality, emphasized by unusually slender Ionic columns. Other buildings in the complex include the old jail now a county museum and the R. Earl Ogg Memorial Building, formerly a bank and now seat of the General District Court.
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
Updated: June 14, 2021
