Nansemond County Courthouse
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City of Suffolk Courthouse (Nansemond County Courthouse)
1838, 1909, John Kevan Peebles. 1913, Finlay F. Ferguson, Sr. 1958, Paul D. Woodward and Shriver and Holland. 524 North Main St. (corner of Main St. and Constance Rd.)
This building replaced a courthouse burned in the fire of 1837. A temple-form structure that bespeaks Thomas Jefferson's influence, it is crude in its details: the Tuscan columns are too elongated, and the pediment's pitch is too shallow. Unlike other courthouses of the period, the courtroom was located on the second floor. Both Peebles and Ferguson provided modest additions, all evidence of which is blurred by the 1958 remodeling, which totally obliterated the original interior and added the vintage aluminum panel annex. With the construction of the new courthouse (see below) the building will be redundant, and new uses are sought.
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