Chapter 7 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE COURTHOUSE AND ITS RELATED BUILDINGS

1. THE COURTHOUSE COMPLEX

Among the courthouses built in England's North American colonies, those of Virginia developed characteristics which expressed peculiarly well the prevailing patterns of landholding and manner of conducting local government. Unlike New England, where each small community had its frame meeting house, containing within its walls "all the ideals, political, moral, intellectual and religious of the people who attended,"[125] the seats of county government in colonial Virginia were centrally located in rural settings. A few county courthouses grew into regional centers of commerce, industry and finance; but most remained independent and apart from any surrounding community, and some may still be seen today standing "as solitary sentinels, symbolic of government."[126]

It was also characteristic of Virginia that these courthouses were not single buildings, but were complexes of several structures. The typical courthouse compound was enclosed by a brick wall, inside which were a courthouse, a jail, a clerk's office, and, sometimes, a row or cluster of offices for lawyers. Invariably, also, an inn or ordinary occupied a site within the compound or immediately adjacent to it. This style of courthouse may be found through Virginia, dating from earliest colonial times; and, although many fine courthouses are found in the early architecture of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, none of these areas developed the design concept of a courthouse compound.

This design concept was used in the courthouses of Fairfax County at Springfield (1742–1752) and Alexandria (1752–1800); and it was followed in the county's third courthouse which was completed in 1800. The courthouse tract was situated near the geographical center of the County, at the intersection of the Little River Turnpike and the old Colchester Road. The tract consisted of four acres, acquired by a deed from Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Serian. Specified in the deed were structures including a courthouse, clerk's office and gaol, "... and every other building and Machine necessary ..."-the latter presumably referring to gallows, pillory, stocks, and the like. The May 1798 Fairfax County Court Order Book did specify that the courthouse should be forty-by-thirty feet with a twelve-foot portico, the gaol forty-by-twenty, the clerk's office twenty-by-eighteen and covered with slate or tile, a gaoler's house twenty-four-by-eighteen feet, and that stocks, pillory and whipping post also be provided by letting the entire "... building of the same to the lowest bidder."[127]

In accordance with statutory requirements, space was delineated for the prison bounds. This was done in March 1800, and the area was described in a survey and report of the commissioners, as follows:[128]

In obedience to the order of the worshipful Court of this County, hereunto annexed, we the subscribers in company with Col. William Payne, the Surveyor of this County, proceeded this thirteenth day of March Eighteen Hundred, to lay off ten acres of ground for the prison rules of this County, and have ascertained and bounded the same by the following meets and boundaries, ... including the said four acres, the Court house, Gaol, Clerk's office, the brick Tavern, Kitchen, Stables and store house, and beg leave to report the same with the plat thereof hereunto also annexed.-Given unto our hands and seals:

Thomas Gunnell (Seal)

N. Fitzhugh (Seal)

T. Ellzey (Seal)

Whether all of the buildings mentioned in this report actually existed at that time may be questioned, since the survey plat shows only the courthouse, clerk's office and jail. As to these three, the plat showed the courthouse situated as at present, with the clerk's office almost directly south a distance of about 300 feet, and the jail about the same distance south, but in back and west of the clerk's office. The plat does not show roads or other features of the platted parcel, but the known position of the courthouse in relation to the turnpike supports the suggestion that the brick tavern referred to was located on the north side of the turnpike, the building later known variously as the Willcoxen Tavern, the Union Tavern and the Fairfax Tavern. The other buildings referred to in the report apparently left no traces, for except through an occasional glimpse of them in old photographs of the courthouse, they are not noted in the records of the court.

These buildings formed a cluster which, if it was not all neatly enclosed within the courthouse fence, at least was immediately adjacent to and integrated with the activities centered in the court. In the first three decades of the nineteenth century, the town of Providence grew up around the courthouse, and by 1835 some 50 dwellings and 200 residents were listed.[129] But the town never eclipsed the courthouse; and, from its commanding position on the gentle hill at the crossroads, the courthouse itself continues to serve as a focal point and symbol of government.

The Clerk's Office. An office for the Clerk of the County Court was mentioned in the survey of the courthouse lot made in March 1800, and was shown on a location south of the courthouse about 200 feet and east of the jail about sixty feet. According to the survey the office was a relatively small building, one or one-and-one-half stories high, with a chimney at the south end and a door opening on the east side. This office was the depository of all important public records in the county, and therefore was a focal point for much of the activity that occurred at the courthouse throughout the year. A news report in the Alexandria Daily Advertiser of February 10, 1806 called for bids for an addition to the clerk's office and repairs on the "public building," all of which should be in accordance with a plan lodged with Col. James Wren, and constructed of brick "covered with slate."[130]

During the next forty years, the functions of the clerk grew in both size and importance as he was called upon to serve both the County court and the circuit court. The need for repairs combined with the need for more space required increasing attention to the old building, until, in 1853, it was determined that a new office building for the clerk must be built. Newman Burke, George W. Hunter, Jr. and Alfred Moss were appointed commissioners to oversee the demolition of the old office building and the construction of a new one.

Fortunately, the commissioners' notice to builders, inviting bids on these jobs, was published in the Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser of July 15, 1853, and provides a detailed description of the materials and construction to be used. It included the instruction that such of the old materials as could be used in the rebuilding should be so used.

Like the courthouse building, the clerk's office suffered damage and deterioration during the war years of 1861–65. When the courthouse compound became a headquarters for Union army patrols, and civilian government either ceased or moved to a temporary seat elsewhere, care and custody of the clerk's office could not be guaranteed. Many of the record books and files were taken to places of safekeeping in private homes. However, many could not be moved in time to prevent them from being scattered, taken, lost or destroyed as soldiers occupied the office building. When the war ended, the task of re-equipping the office and restoring it to usefulness was a major one.

The clerk's office about 1907.

In 1875, the clerk's office burned and subsequently, a new office building was added to the courthouse complex. It was a two-story brick building, larger than the old clerk's office and located beyond it to the south of the courthouse. It was probably completed by 1881, at which time the board of supervisors was appropriating funds for new furnishings. The architecture of this newest office presented a mixture of three styles. In overall appearance, its square shape, hipped roof and functional design were reminiscent of the eighteenth century buildings of James Wren. The late nineteenth century's preference for exterior decoration was illustrated by a dentiled cornice, a belt of corbelling three courses wide in the brickwork below the cornice, and brick pilasters on each side of the main doorway, topped by scrolls and brackets supporting the pediment. In the center of the building on the second floor, a Palladian-style window was installed, providing a contrast to the design of the other windows. Two courses of corbelling also appeared on the two chimneys located at the back and in the center section of the building. Notwithstanding these exterior decorations, the general design of the office represented a recognition of the needs of office workers and the response of late nineteenth century architects to provide light, air, and functional efficiency in the arrangement of space for offices. Telephone service and electric lights were installed in the clerk's office in 1902.[131]

After 1932, the old clerk's office was demolished. A new office building was erected south of the courthouse in 1934, with labor and materials provided by Federal and Virginia relief funds. This building was demolished when the extensive addition was made to the courthouse, 1951–1954. A new wing was put on the back of the courthouse in 1956 to accommodate the rapidly increasing quantities of archives generated by the business of courts and the clerk's office in a county whose population was growing at an unprecedented rate.[132]

The Jail. As shown in the survey of the courthouse tract, made in March 1800 by the County Surveyor, William Payne, the jail was located on the southwestern corner of the original four-acre tract. No contemporary descriptions or records of the jail have survived, but the survey sketch shows a two-story building with chimneys at each end. Presumably the construction material for the jail was brick, since the other principal buildings in the Fairfax courthouse compound were made of this material.

With regard to the interior arrangement and description of major features, conjecture is also necessary. But, again presumptions may be made that its facilities were the same as others of the time-for example, that the bars used on doors and windows were the flat type (rather than round or other shapes), which were laid across each other to form a lattice and riveted together where they overlapped. Also, in accordance with contemporary custom, it may be presumed that the jailor and his family made their home in the same building with the prisoners, and so attended to their meals and other needs.

Exactly when and how the first jail was constructed at the courthouse site is not entirely clear. Payne's survey in 1800 showed a jail building on the site. Yet only nine years later the Alexandria Daily Advertiser, April 8, 1809, carried an invitation for bids to build a jail at Fairfax Court House. Moreover, although the records of the county court for the next fifty years contain references to repairs and construction work for the jail, they customarily fail to include descriptions of work to be done. Accordingly, little can be gleaned from these sources to aid the architectural history of the courthouse complex.

The jail, built about 1886. Photo taken in 1972.

Police Department, about 1947. Photo courtesy the Fairfax County Historical Society.

Along with the other public buildings at the courthouse compound, the jail suffered during the years of war from 1861 to 1865. When civil government ceased to function at the courthouse, competing groups that claimed civil authority in Fairfax County used jail facilities in neighboring Alexandria and Leesburg when the need arose. During the latter years of the war, when Union troops occupied the courthouse, the jail offered its facilities as a storehouse as well as a place of detention for military prisoners. But the Army of the Potomac had little time or incentive to keep the jail in good repair, and so, like the courthouse, it suffered extensively from the war.

During the 1870's, repairs and construction of additions to the original building restored the jail to service. The 1879 G. M. Hopkins Atlas showing the courthouse complex depicts the jail as being larger than the courthouse in size. In 1884, fire destroyed this building, and arrangements had to be made to use the Alexandria city jail until a proper new jail could be constructed for the county.[133]

The new jail was located directly behind (west of) the courthouse, facing onto the Little River Turnpike. Its materials and construction indicate that the original portion was added to on two later occasions. When finally completed, the jail was a two-story T-shaped brick building, with a one-story wooden porch across the full length of the front. In the original section (facing onto the turnpike) the windows have plain wooden pediments. The cornice and chimney tops are corbelled, and there are iron cresting and finials on the ridge of the hipped roof. In the second section, which forms part of the stem of the "T," there are segmental arches over the windows and an ornamental cornice consisting of a course of bricks laid vertically. In the third section, which completes the stem of the "T," the brickwork is laid in Flemish bond (matching the courthouse brickwork in contrast to the common bond of the rest of the jail), and the windows are topped with flat arches. The second and third parts of the building are covered with a gable roof.[134]

In this new jail building, the jailor had living quarters in the front portion, and until 1948 these were used as his residence. The building itself ceased to be used for detention of prisoners shortly after that time, for when the addition to the courthouse was completed in 1956, jail facilities were incorporated into this addition. Since 1956, the old jail building has been used for offices of various county agencies, including the juvenile court and probation office, civil defense office, fire board, police dispatcher, and recreation department.[135]

Associated Buildings and Structures. Certain structures were associated with the courthouse because they were required by statute, and others had their origin in custom and convenience. In 1792, when the legislature of the new state government revised the law relating to organization of the local courts, it reenacted most of the features of the system which had been followed in colonial times. By law all counties had to build and maintain a courthouse, jail, pillory, whipping post, and stocks. This law also required that there be two acres of land around the buildings of the courthouse, and that prison bounds of ten acres should be provided for the "health and exercise of prisoners."[136] A report of a survey of the courthouse tract in March 1800 shows metes and bounds for a four-acre tract within a larger ten-acre area, and states that this land was for the purpose of erecting a courthouse, jail, clerk's office, kitchen, stable, and storehouse plus providing an area to serve as the prison bounds. Additionally, a well was dug a short distance south of the courthouse. Altogether, these comprised the complex of structures associated with the court in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The Tavern. The brick tavern was a substantial building, built on the north side of the Little River Turnpike directly across from the courthouse complex. No detailed description of this building as it appeared in 1800 has been found. It was, at least in later years, a multi-story building which rivalled the courthouse in size, and expanded as the patronage of the circuit-riding judges and their entourages of attorneys and others combined with the regular passage of travellers on the Little River Turnpike to create a prosperous business climate.

After the Civil War, the brick tavern was purchased by Col. H. B. Taylor, who operated it during the 1870's and 1880's. Because of its favorable location near the courthouse, the tavern continued to be frequented by those who had business with the court, and lawyers maintained their offices there. An advertisement in the Fairfax Herald of April 8, 1887 refers to the building as the Union Hotel, and describes it as a three-story brick building with annex, containing about twenty-five rooms, with stable and outbuildings, a two-acre garden and a fine well-"a desirable residence for summer boarders." Later in 1887 the name was changed from Union Hotel to Fairfax Hotel and its management was taken over by James W. Burke.[137]

The hotel continued to be operated until 1932 when it was demolished to clear the site for subsequent construction of a building for the National Bank of Fairfax. The bricks, mantels and doors from the hotel were re-used in construction of the home of Helen Hill and Francis Pickens Miller, called "Pickens Hill." It is located on Chain Bridge Road north of Fairfax, and in recent years has become a major building of the Flint Hill private school complex.

The Well. At the time of construction of the courthouse, a well was dug on the south side of the building. Over the years, pictures show a variety of overhead coverings to shelter the well and its users. The well was a large one, appearing to be four or five feet in diameter at the top, and was surrounded by a raised platform. Standing on this platform, one drew water from the well by a windlass operated by a hand-crank. Later the box on which the windlass was mounted was fitted with a hand pump, and a trough for filling buckets or other containers was placed at the side of the well. This well served the courthouse into the twentieth century, but was closed and capped when the town of Fairfax installed underground water mains. The gazebo-like well structure was moved to Sully.

"Public Comfort Station." Many references to the early privies in use on the courthouse grounds appear in both the court order books and the board of supervisors minute books. As recently as 1931, outside toilets were still in use. In October of that year, "the County Engineer was instructed to make necessary repairs to the public comfort station on the Court House lawn."[138]

MEMORIALS

Memorials of the Wars. On the lawn in front of the old courthouse stand two monuments to the honored dead of four wars. The John Quincy Marr monument was erected on June 1, 1904, by the Marr Camp, Confederate Veterans, commemorating the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War. The second monument was erected under the auspices of the Fairfax County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. On a bronze plaque on one side are listed those Fairfax Countians who gave their lives in World War I and on the other, a plaque listing those who gave their lives in World War II and the Korean conflict.

Naval cannon in front of the courthouse.

The Marr Monument commemorating the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War, June 1861. Photo from the National Archives.

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Two naval cannons stand on either side of the Marr monument, pointed toward the National Bank of Fairfax, formerly the site of the brick tavern. Facing the bank, the cannon on the left is inscribed with an anchor and the following lettering: 12 PDR Boat Howitzer 1856 J.A.D. U.S.N.Y. Washington 757 LBS. 58 PRE No. 45. The cannon on the right has inscriptions which are very worn and indistinct. There is an engraved anchor, but except for a letter here-and-there, the inscription is unreadable.

World War I Memorial Plaque.

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World War II and Korean Conflict Memorial Plaque.

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Plaques and Portraits. Mounted in the inside north entrance hall beside the oldest portion of the courthouse are three plaques. One is a tablet with 160 names of Civil War veterans of Marr Camp, Confederate States of America. The second is a memorial to George Auld (1832–1919), born in Scotland, who "was for many years Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County, Virginia...." The third is a plaque commemorating the building of the first addition to the courthouse, A.D. 1929, W. I. Deming, Architect, and C. H. Brooks, Builder. In the central entrance hall, there is a bronze plaque commemorating the large addition to the courthouse completed in 1954, Robert A. Willgoos and Dwight G. Chase, Architects, and Eugene Simpson and Bro., Contractor. A large mural, painted by Esther L. Stewart in 1954, is hung above the landing of the grand central staircase. It depicts Fairfax County scenes, buildings, and portraits of Lord Fairfax, George Washington, and George Mason.

Mural at the Central Staircase, Fairfax County Courthouse. Painted in 1954 by Esther L. Stewart.

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On the brick floor of the arcaded porch of the first (1800) section of the courthouse, is a National Register plaque (1974 listing) placed by the Fairfax County History Commission in 1976. In the hall inside hangs a plaque from the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission commemorating the building's placement on the State Register in 1973.

Hanging on the walls of this oldest court chamber are oil portraits of county notables. (See Appendix for biographical listing.)

On the courthouse lawn, a dogwood tree was planted in 1954 dedicated to the firemen of Fairfax County. A small bronze plaque with a poem and the dedication was set in a cement post under the tree, by the Firemen's Auxiliary.

In the wake of its many unresolved historical mysteries, the restored courthouse remains a functional courtroom, as required by the terms authorizing the work. Yet it cannot claim to represent any particular period of Fairfax County's history with full historical or architectural integrity. As now redesigned and rebuilt, the courthouse presents an outward appearance presumably similar to its original form. The interior achieves the pleasant appearance and atmosphere of a working courtroom of the past.

NOTES FOR CHAPTER VII

[125] Catherine Fennelly, The New England Village Scene: 1800, (Sturbridge: Old Sturbridge Village, 1955), p. 9.

[126] Sidney Hyman, "Empire of Liberty" in With Heritage So Rich, (New York: Random House, 1966), pp. 5–6.

[127] Fairfax County Deed Book, B-2, pp. 373–377; 503–504.

[128] Fairfax County, Record of Surveys, 1742–1856, p. 93.

[129] Joseph Martin, Gazetteer of Virginia and the District of Columbia, (Charlottesville: Martin, 1835), p. 168.

[130] Fairfax County, Record of Surveys, Section II, p. 93, March 13, 1800.

[131] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Book, #1, pp. 89, 91, 196, 206 (1871–1881).

[132] Interview with Thomas Chapman, Jr., former Clerk of the Circuit Court; Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Book #6, pp. 580–582, August 20, 1934; architectural drawings, 1951–1956, Facilities Management Office.

[133] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1882–1885, April Court, 1884, "The County Jail having been destroyed by fire ...," the county court ordered that Alexandria city jail be used until a proper jail could be erected in the county.

[134] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, June Court, 1891.

[135] Interview with Thomas P. Chapman, Jr.

[136] Hening, Statutes, October 1792, XIII, 453–455.

[137] Fairfax Herald, May 13, 1887, notes that Mr. T. R. Sangster has removed his law office to the Fairfax Hotel; The Union Hotel and Fairfax Hotel sometimes have been assumed to be separate buildings. However, identical advertisements of this hotel appeared in the Fairfax Herald on April 8, 1887 and May 6, 1887, the former calling it the Union Hotel, and the latter calling it the Fairfax Hotel. The April 29, 1887 Fairfax Herald reports the rental of the Union Hotel by Burke. By tradition, the hotel building across from the courthouse has been known as the Willcoxen Tavern or just simply "The Tavern."

[138] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Book, #6 p. 139, October 2, 1931.

2. THE COURTHOUSE

The Courthouse Plan and Its Architect. The design of the Fairfax County Courthouse followed the Virginia tradition that the seats of civil government should be designed with dignity as well as adequacy for their function.[139] Consequently, the courthouse building, which in other respects was a plain rectangular two-story brick structure, departed from strict utilitarian design with its open arcade on the ground floor front, and its cupola in the center of the roof, serving as a base for the flag pole and housing the bell which was used to announce the convening of court.

The advantages of the two-story building for innovations in design and decoration were even more evident with respect to the interior. Entered through the front door which opened into the arcade, the courtroom gave the same impression of vaulted space that is associated with the nave of a church.[140] The space over the arcade on the second floor was enclosed, and presumably used as the jury room. This room was entered from a balcony located across the front of the building (the back of the court chamber) and along each side of the building. At the front of the chamber (as it appeared in the late nineteenth century) was a raised bench, and directly to the left of the judge's seat was a doorway leading into a pair of rooms used by the Court.

No descriptions of the interior of the courtroom as it appeared in the early part of the nineteenth century have been found; but it is probably that the business of the court was transacted, as it had been since early colonial times, at a large table, centered in the main chamber of the courthouse and spacious enough to seat the justices of the County Court and the sheriff, if the business of the day concerned him. One or more separate tables customarily were provided for the clerk of the court and those of his staff who attended the court session. It was also customary to separate the portion of the courtroom occupied by the Court from that occupied by the public, and this was accomplished by installation of a wooden railing or partition. Fireplaces heated the courtroom chamber and a second-floor fireplace heated the jury room above the open arcade. Details of the plastering and woodwork, the lighting fixtures and other hardware are not known, yet it seems certain they must have been of good taste and design, for their selection was in accordance with a plan prepared by James Wren, the designer of The Falls Church, Christ Church in Alexandria, and probably Pohick Church.

Although James Wren's name appears frequently in the public records of Fairfax County during the eighteenth century, his principal legacy was the architecture he designed and helped to build. In the 1760's references to him are found throughout the Vestry Books of Truro Parish and Fairfax Parish.[141] In 1763 he prepared the plans for construction of The Falls Church, which formed the nucleus of the village which grew up around it. In 1767 he designed the plans for Christ Church in Alexandria. Wren and William Weit were each paid forty shillings in 1769 for plans furnished to the vestry, for Pohick Church.[142] He had, through design of these and other structures, earned a reputation as the foremost builder and designer of buildings in his locality[143]-a reputation attested to by numerous contracts, recorded in the Fairfax County Court Order Books, under which young men were apprenticed to him to learn the "trade sciences or occupation of a Carpenter and Joiner."

According to Melvin Lee Steadman's genealogy of the Wren family,[144] James Wren was born in King George County about 1728, the son of John Wren and Ann Turner Wren. He learned his trade of carpentry and joining there, and about 1755 he moved to Truro Parish, Fairfax County. The first reference to James Wren in the land records of Fairfax County is found in a deed dated June 15, 1756 in which one James Scott conveyed to Wren a tract of 200 acres on which Wren was then living. Ultimately, Wren built a home, now called "Long View," adjacent to the present city of Falls Church, and assembled a substantial plantation, known as "Winter Hill," now within Falls Church City. He also operated, at Winter Hill, "Colo. Wren's Tavern."

James Wren served as a justice of the County Court. He was a trustee of the Town of Turberville which in 1798 was laid off on land near the Little Falls of the Potomac but never fulfilled the hopes of its promoters. Following his military service in the Revolutionary War he held various offices in the County government, including that of sheriff and commissioner of the tax. He acquired extensive landholdings in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. James Wren was married three times; first, in 1753, to Catherine Brent of Overwharton Parish (Aquia Church); next, about 1771–74 to Valinda Wade, and last, to Sarah Jones of Alexandria in 1804. He died in 1815 and was buried at Long View.[145]

The architecture which James Wren created for the courthouse-as well as his churches and the numerous private buildings he designed and built under contract or for his friends-reflect the general level to which that art had advanced in colonial Virginia. The styles were adapted from prototypes in England.[146] Innovations which were made in adapting these styles to American use were, in most instances, attributable to the differences in building materials and the types of skilled labor which were available to the American builder.

The Origin of the Courthouse Design. The architectural design which James Wren selected for the Fairfax County Courthouse utilized several features which already were familiar hallmarks of public buildings in colonial Virginia, and in particular the colonial capitol at Williamsburg-probably the most impressive public building in Virginia at that time. The use of brick as building material, the use of two stories, topped by a cupola, and, most strikingly, the use of arches, all combined to suggest the influence of this capitol building on the courthouse design.[147] The courthouse was far from being a copy of the capitol and Wren added to these familiar features several new ones that made the courthouse an architectural innovation in its own right. When it was completed in 1800, the Fairfax County Courthouse was the first example of a new design which architectural historians have called "the town hall style,"[148] and have traced to English town halls of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Like the Fairfax County Courthouse, these town halls were two-story brick or stone buildings which presented to their front a gable-end, ground-floor arcade (or piazza) covering the main opening onto the street, an entrance set into the end wall, and, frequently, a cupola. The town halls of Blandford in Dorset (1734), and Amersham in Buckinghamshire (1682) illustrate these features with variations of details.

No documentary evidence has been found to show how James Wren evolved his design for the Fairfax County Courthouse; but it seems probable that he knew of this style that was enjoying current popularity in England, and that John Bogue, the "undertaker" who built the courthouse, was familiar with the methods of constructing such buildings, for Bogue had just come to America from England in 1795.

While the similarity of geometric and structural exterior design strongly suggests that the Fairfax County Courthouse had its architectural ancestry in the English town halls of that period, the analogy is weaker when functions are compared. The courthouse for Fairfax County was designed and used entirely as the seat of local government. The commercial activity that was attracted to the courthouse site on "court days" enjoyed no special privileges or facilities in the building. In contrast, town halls in eighteenth century England often[Pg 76]

[Pg 77] served the dual purpose of providing a facility for transaction of public business and carrying on the commerce of the community. The style of the English town halls provided space in the open arcade of the ground floor to house a farmers' and tradesmen's market, and space in the second floor chamber for the town council to meet and do its work.[149]

The origin of this type of building is not entirely clear. It is difficult to imagine it growing naturally in the political and social climate of the villages which grew up clustered around England's medieval castles and monasteries. At the time when town-and-market halls were common in the central squares of free towns in Italy, Germany and the Low Countries, they were absent in England. Their appearance in England dates from the seventeenth century when town government developed its own identity, and when British political and cultural alliances with the Dutch were established.[150]

Imported to Virginia as a form of courthouse building, this town hall style became a popular prototype for buildings erected in several counties during the first three decades of the nineteenth century. After being introduced in Fairfax County in 1800, this style appears in the Nelson County Courthouse built in 1807, the Caroline County Courthouse built in 1808, the Sussex County Courthouse built 1825–28, and the Madison County Courthouse built 1829–30. Variations in the layout of the interior appeared in the use of the space over the arcade; sometimes it was used for the jury room, and at other times it was used to accommodate a balcony for spectators.[151] After 1824, however, a new style of courthouse building may be seen in the public buildings of Virginia counties. Based on the neo-classical lines of the State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson, there came into being a series of courthouses which were suggestive, if not actual, representations of the seat of state government.[152]

The Courthouse. In its exterior appearance the Fairfax County Courthouse underwent little change during the first century of its service. Indeed, looking at the courthouse square in 1900, it might have seemed that the courthouse was the only building that had not been rebuilt, relocated or significantly expanded. The effects of passing time were more evident in the evolution of the layout and furnishings of the court.

Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century the interior of the courthouse probably remained similar to the layout described in colonial times. Generally the focal point of the court chamber was a long table at which the County Court was seated, flanked by smaller tables where the court's clerks did their work. Customarily, also, a railing across the room separated this space from visitors whose business or curiosity led them to crowd in upon the court and its staff. As long as the gentlemen justices of the court were in reality, as well as name, the governing authority of the County, this arrangement of the courthouse chamber was the most sensible that could be suggested.

As the purely judicial duties were isolated and assigned to the professional judges of the District Court it became customary to renovate the court rooms to install the features which have become associated with litigation-the raised bench of the judge, the jury box, the witness stand, and counsels' tables.

These changing ideas of what a court chamber should look like became established during the first half of the nineteenth century, and were reflected in the courthouses built in Virginia during that period. Therefore, when the Fairfax County Courthouse was restored to service after the Civil War, its interior design resembled that which was customary for judicial chambers.[153]

That the task of renovation and restoration was extensive is indicated by a report in the Alexandria Gazette of October 17, 1862 stating that "The interior of the courthouse of Fairfax County has been entirely destroyed. Nothing remains of the building but the walls and the roof." Moreover, the work of renovation had to be carried out under the double difficulty of shortages of funds and labor that was skilled in cabinetmaking and metalworking. In the end, the restoration of the courthouse was a gradual process in which first one and then another improvement was added. No grand design seems to have been followed or a complete record of accomplishments maintained. Hence, evidence of the courthouse furnishings is seen in such separate notations in the Court Minute Books as follow:

October Court, 1866.

Ordered that the Com. of Public Buildings be instructed to purchase enough green-baise to cover the table in the bar And have it covered before the Circuit Court commenses.[154]

December 11, 1876.

Ordered that the Com'r of Public Buildings have the sawdust removed from the floor of the Courtroom, and have said floor covered with a substantial cocoa matting at the expense of the Court.[155]

December Court, 1882.

... Some person or persons have entered the Court House Building in the night, without authority and have damaged Said building and have greatly annoyed the citizens living nearby by violently ringing the bell. It is therefore ordered by the Court, that such trespass ... will be punished to the full extent of the law.[156]

The bell referred to by the Court was a standard feature of many Virginia courthouses, and was rung to announce the convening of court sessions. In the Fairfax County Courthouse, the bell was hung in a cupola on the roof, and rung with a bell-pull passing through the building's attic to the balcony level of the courtroom.[157]

A major change in the appearance of the courtroom occurred with the installation of wooden benches in the public section of the chamber. Tradition holds that the benches had been pews at one time in Jerusalem Baptist Church located on the Ox Road between Fairfax and Fairfax Station. This church had been built on the site of the old colonial "Payne's Church."

Illustrating the period when gaslights replaced candles, an elaborate brass chandelier fitted for gas illumination has been found in the courthouse attic. It is possibly the fixture which the sheriff was directed at the February 1890 court to purchase, for a price not to exceed $25.00. In about 1902, electric lights were installed.[158]

During the restoration of the courthouse following the Civil War one major alteration of the exterior appearance of the courthouse occurred when the brickwork between the windows on the first and second floors was removed to change the windows into single two-story-long vertical openings. The courthouse windows remained this way until 1968 when renovation of the original section of the courthouse was carried out, and double rows were reestablished as they appeared in photographs taken during the Civil War.

The old courthouse, 1800, prior to restoration in 1967.

The old courthouse after restoration in 1967.

Reportedly, another major refurbishment of the courtroom occurred about 1920. In keeping with the style of that time, the emphasis was on panelling with dark, polished woods, and moderately ornamental carving which achieved an appearance of massiveness and dignity. The judge's bench was located at the west end of the courtroom on a raised platform and behind a heavy wooden balustrade. Against the west wall of the room and behind the judge's bench, wooden panelling covered the space from the southwest corner of the room to a doorway beside the bench which led into smaller chambers in the rear. This panelling was topped with a swan's neck pediment behind the judge's chair. At floor level, beside the judge's bench and behind the balustrade, were the witness stand and clerk's desk.

The jury box was located along the south wall of the room and faced an enclosure where tables for counsel and reporters were placed. These, in turn, were separated from the public seats by a carved wooden balustrade. Seating for the public on the ground floor was provided in two sections of wooden benches-the former church pews referred to earlier-separated by a center aisle. At the rear of this section was another balustrade setting it apart from the open space inside the door to the entrance arcade. The two fireplaces in the corners of the east end of the room were bricked-in and covered with plaster.

On the south wall, a stairway provided access to the balcony over the open portion of the room adjacent to the outer entrance. From the rear of the balcony were doorways into a jury room and small office which occupied the second-floor space over the entrance arcade. Three rows of benches, each raised one step above the one in front, provided additional seating space for visitors in the balcony. The ceiling of the courtroom was sheet metal (tin) with a pattern of ridges arranged in rectangular shapes. Central heating was provided by hot water radiators.

In 1929, an addition was constructed on the south side at the rear of the original courthouse, making an L-shaped building. In this process the clerk's office which was built in 1876 was torn down. Harmony of scale, materials and style were maintained between the old and new sections.[159]

The old court room prior to restoration. Photo by Lee Hubbard, 1966.

Twenty years later, in 1951–56, the courthouse again was expanded by addition of a center block, and another wing identical with the original and first addition segments. At the rear (west side) of these new portions, two wings were added to house, respectively, the records of the clerk's office and[Pg 82]

[Pg 83] a new, larger jail. With the completion of this construction, the old courtroom in the original wing of the building ceased to be used regularly for judicial business. Two large courtrooms and several smaller chambers in the center block of the building provided facilities for hearing cases. The new and larger building also provided space for the offices of the County's elected officials and most of the major boards, commissions and administrative departments which comprised the county's government in the 1950's.[160]

In both exterior and interior appearance, the courthouse additions of 1931 and 1954 were designed to harmonize with the original style James Wren established in 1800. The use of brick, gable-end roof lines, proportioning of the scale of various segments of the building, compatible fenestration and colonial period styles in hardware and painting all contributed to this result. Most influential of all in maintaining this architectural integrity, perhaps, was the use of archways and open arcades at the entrances to the center block and two wings. These open arcades, with their simple, undecorated keystone arches are the distinguishing features of the Fairfax County Courthouse in the 1970's as they were in 1800.

The central entrance to the 1954 addition to the courthouse.

NOTES-2. THE COURT HOUSE

[139] William O'Neal, Architecture in Virginia, (New York: Walker, 1968), p. 17, remarks that "Traditionally, in Virginia buildings housing civil government have been developed beyond the utilitarian. This tradition, of course, has given us not only a remarkable group of eighteenth and nineteenth century courthouses, but, just yesterday, the very beautiful City Hall complex of Norfolk by Vincent King."

[140] University of Virginia Newsletter, (Charlottesville: Institute of Government, University of Virginia), XLIII, No. 11, (July 15, 1967).

[141] A summary of these references is contained in Melvin Steadman, Falls Church by Fence and Fireside, (Falls Church, Va.: Falls Church Public Library, 1964), pp. 463–520.

[142] O'Neal, Virginia Architecture, pp. 127, 133, 143, Minutes of the Vestry, Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732–1785, (Lorton, Va.: Pohick Church, 1974), p. 114.

[143] Steadman, Falls Church, p. 471.

[144] The genealogy and a summary history of the Wren family, both in England and America, is in Steadman, Falls Church, pp. 463–520.

[145] Janice Artemel, "James Wren, Gentleman Joiner," (unpublished manuscript, Falls Church, Va., 1976).

[146] According to Sir Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture, Rev. ed., (New York: Scribners, 1963), p. 1126, "In general, the architecture of a particular area mirrored that of the homeland of the colonizers or settlers of that area, with modifications occasioned by climate, the types of building material obtainable, and the quality of labour available. Thus, in seventeenth century New England building followed the pattern of English weather-boarded heavy timber-frame prototypes, while in eighteenth century Virginia we find a 'Georgian' architecture often almost indistinguishable from that of eighteenth century England."

[147] Carl Feiss, "Court Houses of Virginia," lecture delivered at the meeting of the Latrobe (Washington) Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians, held at the Arts Club of Washington, November 8, 1968.

[148] Marcus Whiffen, "The Early Courthouses of Virginia," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XVIII, No. 1 (March 1959), pp. 2, 5–6.

[149] Thus the term "market hall" is sometimes also used to designate these buildings. At times, the market activities may even overshadow the building's associations with government, as in the case of Blandford, Dorset, where a sign on the building identifies it as the Corn Exchange, without mention of the Council's chamber.

[150] Sir Kenneth Clark, in his book, Civilisation. (New York: Harper & Row, 1969), pp. 194–220, describes the impact of Dutch accomplishments in the arts, and the impact of their influence on such Englishmen as Christopher Wren.

The adoption of the Dutch style of market hall in England may well have been a gradual one, utilizing the already familiar design of the house of a typical town tradesman, which presented to the street a series of arched openings where work was done and wares were displayed during the day. At night these arches were shuttered, and the tradesman had his living quarters on the second floor over his shop. Sir Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture, (New York: Scribners, 1961), p. 463.

[151] Whiffen, "Early Courthouses," p. 6.

[152] William O'Neal, Architecture in Virginia, (New York: Walker, 1968), pp. 22–25.

[153] Whiffen, "Early Courthouses," p. 3.

[154] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1863–1867, p. 484.

[155] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1875–1879, p. 162.

[156] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1882–1885, p. 34.

[157] Examination of the courthouse attic in July 1967 revealed a bell, complete with mounting and wheel, with the following inscription: "TW & RC SMITH ALEXANDRIA 1844." It has not been determined when this bell was installed in or removed from the cupola. It was rehung in the cupola and rung again in 1976.

[158] Examination of the courthouse attic in July 1967 revealed a brass chandelier with six arms, approximately 24 inches long, fixed to a central hub. Burners at the end of each arm were fitted to hold glass globes or lamp chimneys. Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1888–1892, p. 216. The end of the gaslight era occurred shortly after 1900, when, according to Thomas Chapman, former Clerk of Circuit Court, electric lights were installed in the clerk's office in 1902 and shortly thereafter in the courtroom.

[159] Interview with Thomas Chapman, former Clerk of Circuit Court.

[160] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Books, No. 17, p. 4, November 21, 1949; No. 18, pp. 2–9, November 15, 1950, pp. 296–298, May 22, 1951.

3. RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL WING OF THE COURTHOUSE, 1967

Origin of the Restoration Project. After the second addition to the courthouse was completed in 1954, the old courtroom in the original wing of the building ceased to be the focal point of the court's activity. Similarly, it ceased to receive the attention needed to deal with the natural deterioration produced by use and the passage of time. By the early 1960's these effects were evidenced by leaking roofs, unreliable plumbing in the heating system, cracked and crumbling plaster, loosened floors and hardware, and the like. In order to retain its usefulness, the original wing of the courthouse needed substantial renovation.

At this time, an interest in the old courtroom was expressed by the Fairfax County Bar Association and the county's newly formed Historical Landmarks Preservation Commission which together proposed that the work of renovation be done in such a way as to restore the original appearance of the courtroom. The Bar Association formed a Special Committee for Restoration of the Old Court Room under the chairmanship of C. Douglas Adams, Jr., and the assistance of the Board of Supervisors was sought.[161]

In December 1964, the Board appropriated funds for developing a restoration plan. Walter Macomber, a local restoration architect who had done similar work on a number of early Virginia landmarks, was retained to prepare the necessary plans. In March 1966, the Bar Association's Committee reported the completion of this preliminary work to the Board, and successfully secured the latter's approval together with an appropriation of $90,000 for actual construction work. This work was commenced without further delay and was completed in the spring of 1967.[162]

Problems of the Restoration. While the work undertaken in 1965 and 1966 was at the time referred to as a restoration, it was in fact impossible under the circumstances to reproduce with complete accuracy the appearance of the courthouse in 1800. No descriptions of the courtroom or other records of building specifications had been found; nor was any special research in eighteenth century sources undertaken for this purpose. As a result, the work produced a courtroom with idealized colonial-period interior design and furnishings in a building shell with reconstructed floor plan and structural design of the early Federal-period (during which it had initially been built). Numerous difficult problems were faced in this reconstruction,[Pg 88]

[Pg 89] and, for the most part, they were resolved in ways that served primarily to create a room with the atmosphere of Virginia's colonial period, and secondarily to build an authentic replica of the Fairfax courthouse as of any particular historical date.

FLOOR PLANS.

VIEW LARGER IMAGE

An initial problem connected with the exterior alterations was that of securing bricks and mortar to match those of the original courthouse. Bricks secured from a manufacturer of specialty bricks turned out to be a close match for the originals which were thought to have been fired from clay dug in Fairfax County.[164] Specially mixed mortar made from sand, lime and white cement also closely simulated the color and texture of the older mortar. Bricks were laid in Flemish bond which matched the courthouse and part of the old jail building.

Using these new materials, broken and crumbling bricks were replaced throughout the building, and the three long windows on both the north and south sides of the courthouse were altered to form two rows of smaller windows, with the space between the first and second-floor rows filled with new brickwork. This change in the fenestration restored the building to its appearance as shown in Civil War photographs of the courthouse. Shutters similar to those shown in the same pictures were added to the windows on both floors.

On the roof, some repairs were needed to restore the slate shingles. In the cupola, wooden louvres were repaired, the cupola was painted, and a weathervane restored to the top. An existing galvanized sheet metal roof was allowed to remain unchanged.

For the inside of the building there were no photographs or drawings of the earlier periods, and reconstruction was influenced largely by physical evidence disclosed as the interior was systematically dismantled down to the building's outer shell. When woodwork, hardware, plaster and flooring were removed, it was found that much of the framing timber was infested by termites, and had to be replaced. In this process numerous signs of earlier workmanship were revealed.

Beneath the existing tin-plate ceiling was a plastered ceiling and remnants of a painted frieze of red, yellow, blue and green. Behind this ceiling were laths laid over hand-hewn oak rafters. A few of the original hand-split laths and hand-made nails remained in this ceiling. In its reconstruction, the ceiling was furred and replastered without any[Pg 90]

[Pg 91] decoration. No lathwork was found on the side walls, and in the reconstruction fresh plaster was applied directly to the bricks.[165]

Interior of the gutted courthouse during restoration in 1966. Photo by Lee Hubbard.

The flooring which was removed from the central section of the courtroom sloped from the back (east end) of the room toward the judge's bench (at the west end). Beneath this floor was an older floor of brick. It was not determined whether this brick work had been the original floor of the courtroom or whether another wooden floor had overlaid it prior to the one just removed. In its reconstruction, however, the architect specified that a flat floor of polished pine should be laid over the bricks.[166]

In one part of the main floor the older brick work was allowed to remain exposed. This was in the vicinity of the fireplaces in the two corners of the open area at the rear (east end) of the courtroom. These two fireplaces were reopened and restored and their brickwork was extended to form spacious hearthstones.

The corner fireplaces showed signs of a three-stage evolution. They were originally used as open fireplaces. Holes in the brickwork above them suggested, however, that at some later time the open fireplaces were replaced by wood-burning or coal-burning stoves standing on the brick hearths with their stovepipes fitted into the chimneys. Finally, when the stoves were replaced by central heating and hot water radiators, the entire fireplace wall was sealed with brick and plastered over. In their restoration the corner fireplaces were reopened and refurbished as they were thought to have appeared in their original condition.

As the side walls were cleared of plaster, they showed signs of staircases from the ground level to the balcony along the north as well as the south side of the courtroom. Thus when the stairs along the south wall were replaced, a similar set of stairs was built and installed on the north side of the courtroom. No dates for the original installation or removal of these staircases were determined, and it was presumed that the dual staircases were part of the original design of the courthouse.

A more difficult puzzle was presented by a series of holes in the outer wall aligned at the level of the balcony and about the size used for beams. Speculation by the[Pg 92]

[Pg 93] architect suggested that these holes might have been intended for use in extending the balcony along three sides of the courtroom instead of merely along the back end, or in covering the entire room and creating a full second story for the courthouse. No determination of their use was made, and they were disregarded in the reconstruction of the courtroom.

Interior of restored courtroom facing the judges' bench. Photo by Charles Baptie, 1971.

Interior of restored courtroom facing balcony. Photo by Lee Hubbard, 1969.

Still another mystery which was not solved in the restoration concerned the two chimneys located in the corners at the west end of the old courtroom. No fireplaces or hearthstones were found in the courtroom floor, and when the interior was dismantled it was discovered that the chimneys rested on beams above the courtroom ceiling. These chimneys were not utilized in reconstructing the courtroom, and the only suggestion offered was that they probably had been connected by long pipes to stoves in the room below.[167]

Two doors in the west wall of the courtroom on either side of the judge's bench presented a further problem since they were not part of the original 1800 building, but had been part of the addition built in 1929. One of these doors led into a set of judge's chambers and the other (in one corner) opened into a corridor leading to the main portion of the addition running south from the old courthouse. In the restoration these doors were retained, but fitted inconspicuously into the panelling behind the judge's bench. Above the doors, the architect restored two windows which he felt had been part of the original building.[168]

Restoration of the judge's bench brought still more difficulties to maintaining the original design of the courtroom. As plaster was removed from the wall behind the judge's bench, the bricks showed marks of an arch. The judge's bench which ultimately was constructed and installed at the west end of the courtroom was, like the other woodwork, created by the architect "according to patterns used in colonial times."[169]

Other details of the interior were handled the same way. Hardware used by the architect was all new, but used old designs. Since the original colors used in the interior were not determined, the architect used white and gray shades of paint similar to those in colonial buildings. From the ceiling in the center of the courtroom were hung chandeliers found in the courthouse attic. While not of "colonial" design, they were used because they were considered appropriate due to former association with the courthouse. And, as noted earlier, the pews which possibly had been obtained from the Jerusalem Baptist Church were retained in the restored courtroom.[170]

General Setting and Building Site. The original Fairfax County courthouse today comprises the north end section of the courthouse building. Together with its immediately adjacent grounds, the present courthouse complex occupies almost the entire four-acre tract which was the original site. This tract still forms a square near the center of the City of Fairfax, at the intersections of two main roads, Routes 236 (Little River Turnpike) and 123 (Chain Bridge Road). The general setting is gently rolling terrain, and the courthouse site is on a slightly higher elevation than the surrounding area, with stone retaining walls on the two sides facing the turnpike and road. On the west side of the courthouse building is a parking lot occupying approximately two acres. The twelve-story county office building (Massey Building) completed in 1969 is located approximately 200 yards south and west of the courthouse.

The Exterior

Overall Dimensions. The restored, original courthouse building is a plain rectangle, 61 feet long by 32 feet wide. It is oriented with the long sides facing north and south, with the main entrance at the east end of the building. A portico extends across the entire east end of the building, covering an area 12 by 32 feet. The height of the building at the gable ends is 32 feet; and the height of the eaves from the ground is 21 feet.

Foundations. As originally built, the courthouse rested on brick foundation walls, anchored at the corners in brick piers, with a crawl space of approximately 11/2 to 2 feet in height beneath all but the front (east) quarter of the floor space. Additional brick bases, approximately 18 inches square and resting on the ground, were located in the crawl space beneath the two columns supporting the courthouse balcony. In the late nineteenth century, a partial basement was dug beneath the central section of the courtroom.[171]

As reconstructed, the exterior foundation walls were pointed up and repaired, and were strengthened by the addition of several new footings. Across the back (west end) of the building, the crawl space was deepened to a uniform 3 feet, and four 12 × 12 inch brick piers were placed on concrete footings. In the center section of the courthouse, the basement walls were extended 1 foot to carry the joists of the new floor, the outside entrance was closed up, and a new staircase for the interior entrance was built at the south end of the basement. Next to the basement toward the front (east end) of the building, another crawl space (measuring 81/2 × 251/2 feet) was deepened to a uniform 3 feet, and a new wall was built on the east side, extending the full width of the building. This new wall was 8 inches thick, and constructed of cinder block and brick, anchored with 16 × 16 × 12 inch concrete footings. Beneath both crawl spaces and the basement a 3-inch thick concrete slab was laid. The crawl space did not extend to the front exterior wall of the building. A space of 13 × 30 feet across the front of the building, consisting of the area beneath the open entrance foyer of the courtroom, originally had been covered only by a layer of bricks resting on the bare ground. As reconstructed, this brick was taken up and re-laid on a 4-inch thick slab of concrete which had been poured on a base of 4 inches of crushed stone covered by polyethylene film.

Walls. The exterior walls of the courthouse are constructed of red brick, with new bricks specially selected during the 1967 restoration to match the remaining original materials, and laid in Flemish bond, 11/2 feet thick. Across the front of the building, the portico is entered through a series of arches supporting the second-floor front section of the building. The three arches across the front of the building are 7 feet wide and 11 feet high at the center of the arch. The arches at the north and south ends of the portico are 61/2 feet wide by 11 feet high. The brick columns supporting the arches are 11/2 feet square. The arches and columns are plain except for white marble keystones and white marble slabs, 6 inches thick, placed at the foot of each arch and serving as bases for the columns.

Chimneys. All five of the chimneys which the courthouse had in the early nineteenth century were retained in the reconstruction. The two chimneys on each of the north and south sides stand at points which correspond to the four corners of the courtroom, and rise 111/2 feet above the roofline at the eaves. In the center of the table end at the front of the building, the fifth chimney stands, extending 5 feet above the ridge of the roof. All five chimneys are corbelled with two courses of brick at the top, and with a single course of brick 11/2 feet below the chimney top. All of the chimneys measure 2 feet by 1 foot 9 inches.

Doors and Windows. In the 1967 reconstruction of the courthouse, the fenestration was changed to resemble the appearance of the building in about 1861. Accordingly the three tall (141/2 foot) existing windows on the north and south sides of the building were converted into two sets of smaller windows, one above the other, and regularly spaced along the sides of the courtroom. In the upper row, a fourth window was located over the arch in the portico, and serves the rooms in the second-floor chamber at the front of the building. The chamber also has two windows on the front of the building.

The upper row windows are of a double-hung sash design, with 12 over 8 panes (9 inches × 103/4 inches) set in wooden frames and sills. Overall dimensions of these windows are 4 × 51/2 feet. The three windows on the lower level are slightly larger-4 feet × 6 feet 9 inches, and have 12 over 12 panes. Both rows of windows are shuttered; those of the upper row are louvred, and those in the lower row have solid panels.[172]

On the ground level at the front of the building, the main doorway of the courthouse is located in the center of the wall, and flanked by one window on each side. The door is panelled, and 81/2 × 41/2 feet in size.

In the reconstruction, new window sashes and a new door were installed, but the existing jambs were used wherever possible. All shutters, glazing materials and hardware used in the reconstruction were new.

Roof. The original roof of the courthouse was covered with slate shingles, and the reconstruction of the building merely applied repairs to these shingles as needed. Little of the slate which remained in 1967 was thought to have dated from the original construction, however, because of the extensive repairs and renovations carried out after the Civil War.

Cupola. The cupola, located at the ridge of the roof, 91/2 feet from the gable end at the front, was part of the original design of the courthouse and houses a bell once used to announce the convening of the court sessions. The cupola was constructed of white pine, and consists of a square box in which is mounted an octagonal compartment with louvred sides. Topping the panelled portion of the cupola is an onion-shaped dome, culminating in a ball which, according to photographs over the years, served as a base for a weathervane or flagpole. In reconstruction, a weathervane found in the courthouse attic was installed on the cupola's top. The roofing of the cupola dome is sheet metal.

Ornamentation. The overall appearance of the courthouse is plain, and, with the possible exception of the cupola, there is only one feature which shows the intention to combine ornamentation with functionalism in the architectural design. This feature is a round "fan window" framed by a circle of bricks in the center of the gable end of the building's front wall. The lower half of this window consists of four pie-shaped wooden panels. The upper half of the window consists of louvres.

The Interior

Foyer. The double doors in the center of the portico at the east end of the courthouse open inward into a foyer at the rear of the courtroom. This area is 29 feet long, the full width of the building. The width of the area varies, however, because of the fireplaces across each of the front corners and the curving rear edge of the central (or spectator) portion of the courtroom. At its narrowest point in front of the double doors the foyer is 10 feet 4 inches wide, and at its widest points on either end of the room, it is 12 feet wide. The foyer space is entirely open, with flooring composed of bricks (8 × 31/2 inches) varying in color from deep red to charcoal gray. These bricks are laid with three-quarter inch seams and white mortar.

The fireplaces in the corners at each end of the foyer have square (2 foot-8 inch) openings, with brick lining and a 5 inch facing surrounding the opening and painted flat black. The fireplaces are entirely framed with plain architraves and friezes, and are topped with simple mantels. Each fireplace measures 3 feet 11 inches wide by 4 feet 3 inches high.

Along the walls of the foyer, panelled wainscotting, painted white, is installed. Because of the unevenness of the floor, the height of this wainscotting varies from 4 feet 2 inches to 4 feet 3 inches. Its panels are of varying width, from 3 to 6 inches, and are beaded. At the base of the wainscotting is a 5-inch baseboard.

Above the wainscotting, the walls and ceiling are finished in plain plaster with walls painted mauve and the ceiling white. Lighting needs are minimal because of four outside windows located in the foyer, and because of light received from the central section of the courtroom. On each side of the double door and at each end of the foyer lanterns are mounted on the wall. These fixtures are of the type commonly used as carriage gate or guardhouse lanterns, and are 9 × 61/2 × 5 inches, with glass panels on three sides set in dark metal frames. The tops are of curved metal designed to shield the lanterns from the wind. Inside the lanterns, light comes from a single candle-shaped light bulb, set inside a small hurricane lamp chimney.

The hardware on the double door consists of a box lock with the brass knob polished and the lock-box and keeper painted flat black. At the top and bottom of the door black metal shot bolts of designs commonly found in eighteenth century buildings are installed.

Central Section. Space for the seating of spectators is provided in the central section of the courtroom. The floor level of this section is raised 73/4 inches above the floor of the foyer, and free-standing wainscotting of the same style and height as are around the foyer walls separate the foyer from the central section. The floor of this section is constructed of 51/4 inch dark-stained pine boards.

Entry into this section is along two aisles at the sides, running between the spectator seats in the center of the room and the balcony staircases set against the walls on the north and south sides of the room. Spectator seating is provided in five rows of benches of pine, with natural finish on the seats and back rests, white painted sides and bases, and natural cherry moldings along the top of the back rests and arms. Along the base at the front of each bench, is a 6 inch strip painted black. The back of the back rest is painted white down to a point 6 inches above the floor, where a foot rest of dark-stained pine is installed, and below this the base is painted black.

The five rows of benches in the center section are curved, generally following the arc of the edge of the raised flooring, and measure 17 feet 9 inches from end to end. Each bench seats about twelve people.

The walls of the center section are painted mauve, and the ceiling is white. There are no lighting fixtures in this section of the courtroom. At the rear of the central section, two lightly stained solid oak pillars support the balcony.

Staircases. Staircases to the balcony are located along the north and south walls of the central section. The initial plans for reconstruction of the courtroom in 1967 called for only one staircase, on the south wall. The decision to add a staircase on the north side came during the reconstruction when evidence of an earlier staircase on that side was revealed as the plaster was removed. From this it was conjectured that the courthouse of the early nineteenth century had had two staircases, but that one had been abandoned in reconstructing the building after the Civil War.

The present stairways each have 18 steps with 8 inch risers and treads 2 feet 11 inches wide by 10 inches deep. They form a single flight, open style stairs, with no brackets and plain balusters, 1 inch square, painted white and supporting a cherry handrail. Newel posts at the top and foot of the stairway have turned shafts with cube bases and capitals. A flat sphere of solid wood tops the capital of the newel post.

Beneath the staircase on the north side of the building is a closet, and on the south side is a stairway leading into the basement. The doors to this closet and stairway are made of vertical beaded boards similar to the wainscotting, each equipped with two "H" hinges of black metal having a pebble finish and black metal box locks with small polished brass doorknobs.

Balcony. The courtroom balcony contains three rows of wooden benches similar to those on the ground floor, except that they are straight instead of curved. The rows are arranged so the two rear benches are on daises raised 9 inches above the one in front. Solid-panelled free-standing wainscotting is set along the back of the rearmost bench. The first two rows of benches are 17 feet 73/4 inches long, while the rear bench is 22 feet long, allowing space at each end for the steps of the raised dais.

In front of these benches, across the full width of the balcony between the two staircases, is a railing of plain white spokes (matching the balusters of the staircase) and a plain cherry handrail 2 feet 11 inches in height.

The ceiling of the balcony is painted flat white and the walls are mauve. White beaded board wainscotting standing 3 inches high is around the sides and rear wall of the balcony similar to that on the ground level. Three recessed lights provide light for the balcony.

Jury Room. At the rear of the balcony an aisle 3 feet wide runs the full width of the building, allowing passage behind the rows of balcony benches and access to the jury room through doors near each end of the aisle. The jury room uses the space above the first-floor portico, an area 12 × 19 feet. The doors to the room are 2 feet 10 inches by 6 feet 10 inches, with 4 panels. Doors and frames are painted white, with brass doorknobs and modern locks set in the doors. The wall between the jury room and balcony is a new stud partition which is finished with white plaster, as is the ceiling. Lighting is provided by 3 recessed lights set in the ceiling and equally spaced. The walls of the room have a 3-inch baseboard, but no wainscotting.

Centered in the exterior (east) wall of the room is a fireplace, reopened in the 1967 reconstruction. This fireplace measures 4 feet 61/2 inches by 4 feet 73/4 inches, and is framed with a plain white architrave and mantel. A hearth of brick extends 18 inches out from the fireplace. Opposite the fireplace is a 12 by 18 inch plastered masonry pier extended up from the exterior wall at the rear of the portico on the first floor below. In the ceiling next to the pier is located a 30 by 36 inch opening into the attic, with a ladder built into the partition wall immediately below.

Bench, Bar and Jury Box. Across the front of the courtroom is a railing separating the judges bench, jury box, and space for counsel tables from the central section of the courtroom. This railing, similar to those of the staircases and balcony, stands 2 feet 81/2 inches high. Gates 3 feet wide and mounted on double spring hinges are placed in the railing at the head of each side aisle in the central section. Each gate has an S-curve wooden support built into it for added support.

The enclosure formed by the railing or bar is raised 71/2 inches above the floor level of the central section, and is floored with yellow pine, tongue-and-groove, 3-inch wide flooring. In the center of this enclosure, against the west wall of the courtroom is the judge's bench, flanked on its right by the witness stand. The bench itself is relatively small, measuring 6 feet 5 inches across and 4 feet 7 inches from back to front. Three steps on each side permit access from both directions, and have balustrades on the front side similar to the railings and other balustrades in the courtroom.

On the wall behind the judge's bench, there are two, high 12-over-8 pane windows, backed by closed, full-louvred shutters. Behind the shutters is the solid plaster wall of the present courthouse's main corridor. Between and below these windows is a wooden raised-panel screen serving as a back for the judge's bench. Two 6-panelled sections at each end of this screen are flanked by fluted pilasters with modified capitals supporting a plain entablature. Between these sections are 3 panels, the two on either end being composed of 3 tiers of panels edged with fluted pilasters. The center element of this panel consists of two large raised rectangular panels topped by a semi-circular louvred wooden fan design, then a round keystone arch, the whole portion of the composition topped by a high monumental pediment. At its center point, the height of this composition is 8 feet 6 inches.

This ornamental panelling also covers the space where doorways previously had been cut for passage between the courtroom and other portions of the courthouse as they were built from 1930 onward. Prior to the 1967 reconstruction, a doorway in the west wall was located on the judge's left side as he sat on the bench. As presently reconstructed, this doorway has been closed and covered by panelling, but a new door was cut through on the judge's right-hand side, and the inside of the door is constructed and fitted so as to serve as the end piece of the ornamental woodwork behind the judge's bench.

The jury box is in the southwest corner of the courtroom. Across the front of the box is a panelled solid railing, standing 2 feet 8 inches from the floor of the west end of the courtroom. The jury box contains 2 rows of benches, each raised an 8-inch step above the one in front. The front row is 9 feet 3 inches long, with aisles 18 inches wide at each end allowing passage from the second row to the front, and openings in the railing. Not having this function of access, the back row of the jury benches is 14 feet 1 inch in length. Benches in the jury box are designed and constructed similar to those of the balcony.

The witness box is located between the judge's bench and the jury box. This box is constructed of solid wooden screen, painted white and topped with a cherry handrail. The screen forming the back of the box is plain; the screen at the front is in the shape of half of an octagon, and the face of each element contains a single recessed panel similar to those on the front of the judge's bench. The side of the witness box facing the jury is open to allow entry into the box, and the side next to the judge's bench is formed by the side of that fixture. The flooring of the box is made of 3-inch wide, yellow pine boards, finished naturally, and the flooring is raised one step (71/2 inches) from the courtroom floor. The dimensions of the box are 2 feet 10 inches across and 3 feet 8 inches from back to front.

Illumination of the area of the bench and jury box is provided by a variety of fixtures. On the wall at the rear of the jury box two carriage gate or guardhouse lanterns are attached. Opposite these, on the wall at the north side of the room, two other, similar lanterns are located. In the ceiling above the area enclosed by the bar, 10 recessed lights are installed in two rows of 4 lights across the front and rear sections, and a pair are located equidistant between these rows. Hanging from the ceiling over the central area are chandeliers which were found in the attic of the courthouse during the 1967 reconstruction, and refurbished and wired for electric lights. The lighting fixtures consist of six 24-inch arms, made of hollow brass tubing, extending out from a central hub. The hub, in the shape of a cup and decorated with a series of radial ridges, is on the lower end of a 38-inch hollow brass shaft, equipped at the top with a hook for suspension from the ceiling. As installed in the courthouse, each chandelier hangs from a fixture in the ceiling by a metal chain approximately 5 feet long. At the end of each arm of the chandelier are plain disc-shaped bases (3 inches in diameter) which holds one candle-shaped electric socket and a glass hurricane lamp chimney.

Basement. A small basement measuring 11 feet in width lies across the center section of the courthouse. An interior entrance to this basement is provided by a staircase located at its south end. This stairway, 3 feet 6 inches wide with 73/4 inch risers, has 10 steps, and is not panelled or painted. At the present time, the basement is used to house heating and air conditioning equipment.

Small windows are located at both the north and south ends of the basement. Approximately square, these windows measure 2 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 9 inches, with 3-over-2 panes (6 by 12 inches). Both have sills composed of a single slab of stone 2 inches thick. Both also are below ground level, and open into brick-lined spaces for light and air dug out by the wall's foundations. The space for the window on the north side of the building measures 4 feet 1 inch by 3 feet 3 inches. On the south side of the building, however, the dug-out space measures 7 feet 8 inches by 2 feet 9 inches and suggests that this was, at an earlier date, the point where an outside entrance to the basement was located. This is corroborated by markings on the inside of the basement wall which show that a doorway in the north end of the basement has been bricked up, and also that a second window similar to the existing one has been closed up with bricks, leaving the sill slab in place. From the basement, galvanized steel ducts covered with insulating material are run through the crawl spaces beneath the courtroom floor to outlets and intakes for circulation of air. These openings are located in the sills of the recessed windows of the courtroom and in the bases of the benches for spectators and jurors, and are covered with steel grilles painted to blend with the fixtures in which they are set.

3. RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL WING OF THE COURTHOUSE, 1967

[161] Other members of the Special Committee were Edward D. Gasson, James Keith, John T. Hazel, Jr.; W. Franklin Gooding, Assistant Clerk of the Courts; Senior Circuit Judge Paul E. Brown; and Bayard Evans, Chairman of the Fairfax Historical Landmarks Preservation Commission.

[162] The cost of restoration was originally estimated at $74,488, exclusive of architect's fee, which was to be 12 per cent of the total cost. Ultimately, the cost of the work was slightly in excess of $84,500, including the architect's fee, according to the architect's records; Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Book #45, pp. 192, 301, 406; Cost Sheet, Walter M. Macomber.

[163] The building contractor for this work was E. L. Daniels.

[164] Interview with Thomas Chapman, former Clerk of the Circuit Court.

[165] The frieze was disregarded because it was not considered part of the original courtroom interior, and no drawings, photographs or descriptions of it were preserved.

[166] The sloping floor which was replaced was not dated, but probably was installed when the courthouse was renovated following the Civil War.

[167] On this matter the following statement in the Northern Virginia Sun, January 8, 1966, 1, is of interest: "Anyone familiar with the old courthouse will have noticed that it has five chimneys. The two closest to the bench are resting on wood above the ceiling, Macomber discovered. This, he said 'confused' him. He thinks that they probably were connected by long pipes to stoves in the courtroom. Yet he is not sure. It appears to Macomber that they were added at some later time, but he will not know until he examines them more closely during the restoration. If ... [there] are post-1800 andirons [in these fireplaces], out they will go in the restoration."

In an interview on March 2, 1970, however, Macomber stated he felt that these chimneys had been connected to stoves after the fireplaces which they served were blocked up.

[168] The architect expressed the opinion that the addition to the west end of the courthouse dated from about 1900; Northern Virginia Sun, January 8, 1966, 1. However, no documentary evidence from the county records supports this date; Fairfax County Free Press, August 25, 1966.

[169] Transcript of interview with Walter Macomber, March 2, 1970. As to the arch marks, Mr. Macomber said: "On the front wall I found a semi-circle deeply incised in the brick wall. I concluded there had been an original arched design there and I reproduced such an arch as it might have looked based on my studies of colonial architecture."

[170] Transcript of interview with Walter Macomber, March 2, 1970, contains the following:

Question: Do you know what the original color of the room was?

Macomber: No. But since most of the buildings of that period were either white or light gray, I used these colors.

Question: Was any of the original ironwork left?

Macomber: No. The ones installed are new but made from old designs used in the colonial period.

Question: Where did the old chandeliers you installed in the ceiling come from?

Macomber: They were discovered in storage. They are not colonial, but since they were probably used at some time I thought it appropriate to use them.

Question: Where did you get your ideas for the woodwork?

Macomber: I created it according to patterns used in colonial times. The benches were brought in after the Civil War and had come from the Payne [Jerusalem] Baptist Church. I thought it appropriate to use them.

[171] Fairfax County Free Press, August 25, 1966; The basement measured 11 × 251/2 feet and was located across the midsection of the building. At the north end of the basement a stairway led to an outside entrance, and at the south end another stairway provided interior access. The basement was lined with 8-inch thick brick walls, and was divided into two rooms of approximately equal size connected by a doorway 21/2 feet wide.

[172] Prior to the reconstruction of the courthouse in 1967, the shutters at the windows on the first floor of the front of the building were louvred in the top half and solid panel in the lower half. In the reconstruction, these shutters were replaced using shutters with solid panels.

APPENDIX A

FAIRFAX COUNTY CLERKS OF THE COURT

1742–1976

Sources: Frederick Johnston, Memorials of Old Virginia Clerks; Fairfax County Court Order Books.

Catesby Cocke 1742–46

John Graham 1746–52

Peter Wagener 1752–72

Peter Wagener, Jr. 1772–98

George Deneale 1798–1801

William Moss 1801–33

F. D. Richardson, pro tem 1833–35

Thomas Moss 1835–39

Alfred Moss, pro tem Oct.-Nov., 1839

S. M. Ball 1839–52

Alfred Moss 1852–61

Henry T. Brooks (military) 1861–65

W. B. Gooding (military) 1865–66

William M. Fitzhugh (military) 1866–67

F. D. Richardson, pro tem 1866–69

D. F. Dulany (military) 1869–70

F. D. Richardson 1870–80

F. W. Richardson, pro tem 1880–81

F. W. Richardson 1881–87

W. E. Graham 1887–1903

F. W. Richardson 1904–35

John M. Whalen 1936–45

Thomas P. Chapman, Jr. 1945–67

W. Franklin Gooding 1967–75

James E. Hoofnagle 1976–

APPENDIX B

JUSTICES AND JUDGES OF THE FAIRFAX COUNTY, CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT COURTS

1742–1976

Lists Compiled By E. Sprouse, P. Howe, V. Peters, A. Lewis, and N. Netherton.

(Because of missing books and records, this listing is incomplete.)

First Commission for Fairfax County, 1742

William Fairfax

John Colvill

Richard Osborne

Jeremiah Bronaugh

Lewis Elzey

William Payne

Thomas Pearson

John Minor

William Henry Terrett

John Gregg

Gerard Alexander

Edward Barry

Daniel Jennings

Thomas Arbuthnot

(1742–1748 Fairfax County Court Order Books are missing.)

1749

John Minor

William H. Terrett

Daniel Jennings

John Carlyle

William Ramsay

Charles Broadwater

Daniel McCarty

John Colvill

Moses Linton

Lewis Ellzey

William Payne

Richard Osborn

George W. Fairfax

Anthony Russell

Joseph Watkins

George Mason

Jeremiah Bronaugh

Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax Chief Justice

Stephen Lewis

1750

John West

Lawrence Washington

Catesby Cocke

1752

Fielding Turner

1753

Thomas Colvill

1754

Hugh West

1755

John West, Jr.

Sampson Turley

Sampson Darrell

James Hamilton

Oneas Campbell

1757

Henry Gunnell

1758

John Hunter

Robert Adam

William Bronaugh

William Payne, Jr.

1759

Bryan Fairfax

Townshend Dade

Benjamin Grayson

Edward Blackburn

Lee Massey

William Adams

1762

Hector Ross

1764

George William Fairfax

William Ellzey

John West

George Mason

Daniel McCarty

John Carlyle

William Ramsay

Charles Broadwater

Thomas Colvill dead

John West, Junior

Bryan Fairfax

Sampson Dorrell Sher.

Townshend Dade Quo:

Henry Gunnell

1767

Marmaduke Beckwith

Robert Adam

John Hunter dead

Richard Sanford

Wm. Payne

Benjamin Grayson

William Adams

Edward Blackburn

Hector Ross &

Alexander Henderson Gent.

George William Fairfax

Lewis Ellzey

John West

George Mason

Daniel McCarty

John Carlyle

Wm. Ramsay

Charles Broadwater

John West, Junr

Bryan Fairfax

Sampson Dorrell Quo:

Townshend Dade

Henry Gunnell

Wm. Adams

George Washington &

Daniel French Gent:

1768

George W Fairfax

Lewis Ellzey

John West

George Mason

Daniel McCarty

John Carlyle

Wm. Ramsey

Charles Broadwater

John West Junior

Bryan Fairfax

Sampson Darrel

Townshend Dade Quorum

Henry Gunnell

Marmaduke Beckwith

Robert Adam

Richard Sanford

Wm. Payne

Benjamin Grayson dead

Wm. Adams

Hector Ross

Alexander Henderson

George Washington

Daniel French &

Edward Payne Gent:

1770

John West

George Mason

Daniel McCarty

John Carlyle

William Ramsay

Charles Broadwater

John West Junr

Bryan Fairfax

Sampson Darrell Quor.

Henry Gunnell

Robert Adam

William Payne

William Adams

Hector Ross

Alexander Henderson

George Washington and

Edward Payne Gent.

(1774–1782 Fairfax County Court Order Books are missing.)

1783

John Gibson

George Gilpin

Richard Chichester

Robert McCrea

Charles Little

James Hendricks

Josiah Watson

Henry Darne

Thomas Lewis

Robert T. Hooe

1784

James Wren

David Stuart

David Arell

Charles Alexander

1785

William Deneale

John Moss

1786

George Minor

William Herbert

1787

Roger West

Richard Conway

Thomas Gunnell

John Fitzgerald

William Brown

Benjamin Dulany

Thomas Pollard

James Waugh

John Potts

1788

Martin Cockburn

William Lyles

(1793–1796 Fairfax County Court Order Books are missing.)

1797

Thompson Mason

James Keith, Jr.

1798

Francis Adams

John Stewart Alexander

James Coleman

Elisha C. Dick

Charles Eskridge

John Gunnell

William Gunnell

John Jackson

William Lane, Jr.

Ludwell Lee

Richard Bland Lee

Samuel Love

John Potts, Jr.

Richard Ratcliffe

William Stanhope

George Summers

William H. Washington

1801

Francis Adams

Charles Alexander

John S. Alexander

Charles Broadwater

James Coleman

Richard Conway

William Deneale

Elisha C. Dick

Benjamin Dulany

Charles Eskridge

John Fitzgerald

George Gilpin

John Gunnell

Thomas Gunnell

William Gunnell

William Herbert

Robert T. Hooe

John Jackson

William Lane, Jr.

Ludwell Lee

Richard B. Lee

Charles Little

Samuel Love

Daniel McCarty

Thompson Mason

George Minor

John Moss

William Payne

John Potts, Jr.

Richard Ratcliffe

William Stanhope

David Stewart (sic.)

George Summers

William H. Washington

James Waugh

John West

Roger West

James Wren

Now dead: Love, Fitzgerald, T. Gunnell, R. West, J. Gunnell, J. S. Alexander, D. McCarty

Now moved: Ludwell Lee

Now refuses to qualify: Summers

Now in D. C.: Gilpin, Hooe, Alexander, Conway, Herbert, Potts, Dick, Washington

Now disqualified: Adams

1802

Augustine J. Smith

Humphrey Peake

John Keene

James H. Blake

1803

Samuel Adams, Jr.

1804

Richard Coleman

Spencer Jackson

George Graham

1807

Present: William Gunnell, Jr.

William Payne

Wm. Deneale

Augustine J. Smith

Hancock Lee

Humphrey Peake

Spencer Jackson

Absent: George Summers, Gentleman

Persons to be recommended to the Governor as proper persons to be commissioned by him as Justices of the Peace, or added to the Commission of the Peace for the County: John C. Hunter

John C. Scott

Daniel McCarty Chichester

Joseph Powell

Edward Dulin

James L. Triplett

John Y. Ricketts

George Mason

1808

Present: William Gunnell, Jr.

James Waugh

William Lane, Jr.

Thomson Mason

George Summers

Humphrey Peake

George Graham

James L. Triplett

Absent: James Coleman

William Gunnell, Jr.

David Stuart

William Payne

William Deneale

Thompson Mason

Richard Ratcliffe

George Summers

Augustine J. Smith

James Waugh

Hancock Lee

Humphrey Peake

George Graham

John Coleman

Acting in 1816–17

James Coleman

Wm. Lane, Jr.

Thompson Mason

Rich. Ratcliffe

John Jackson

Augustine J. Smith

Rich. M. Scott

Humphrey Peake

Rich. Coleman

Spencer Jackson

John C. Hunter

James L. Triplett

John T. Ricketts

Lawrence Lewis

Wm. H. Terrett

Henry Gunnell, Jr.

Alex'r Waugh

Geo. Minor

Geo. Gunnell

Francis L. Lee

John W. Ashton

Dan'l M. Chichester

Geo. Taylor

Wm. H. Foote

James Waugh

James Sangster

Thomas Moss

Dan'l Dulany

Chas. G. Broadwater

Wm. H. Fitzhugh

1819–1826

William A. G. Dade

Acting in 1824

Rich. Ratcliffe

Rich. M. Scott

Lawrence Lewis

Spencer Jackson

John C. Hunter

James L. Triplett

Alex'r Waugh

Geo. Gunnell

Geo. Mason

Augst. J. Smith

John W. Ashton

Geo. Taylor

Wm. H. Foote

James Sangster

Thos. Moss

Dan'l Dulany

Chas. L. Broadwater

Wm. H. Fitzhugh

Chas. F. Ford

Benedict M. Lang

Eli Offutt

John Jackson

Robt. Ratcliffe

Chas. Ratcliffe

Wm. E. Beckwith

John Geanit

Mottrom Ball

Rich. C. Mason

Joshua Hutchison

Sam'l Summers

1831–1838

John Scott

Acting between 1825–42

Geo. Millan

Silas Burke

Rich. H. Cockerille

Rich. C. Mason

Dennis Johnston

John D. Bell

John Gunnell

Frederick Carper

Spencer M. Ball

Edward Sangster

James Millan

Thomas Nevett

John H. Halley

Wm. Ball

John Millan

Geo. Mason

John B. Hunter

Henry Fairfax

Wm. H. Alexander

Frederick A. Hunter

Wm. A. Chichester

Alfred Moss

Chas. C. Stuart

James Hunter

Benj. F. Rose

James Cloud

Fred. M. Ford

Wm. R. Selectman

Nelson Conrad

W. W. Ball

Jno. Powell

Jno. A. Washington

Wm. H. Wren

1839–52

John Scott

John W. Tyler

1852–55

Silas Burke

William Ball

Wm. R. Selectman

W. W. Ball

John Millan

Nelson Conrad

William H. Wrenn

James Hunter

Ira Williams

Thomas Suddath

George H. Padgett

James M. Benton

John R. Dale

Thos. A. Davis

S. T. Stuart

Levi Burke

James Fox

Robert M. Whaley

Abner Brush

John Cowling

F. W. Flood

Francis E. Johnston

John W. Hickey

R. C. Mason

R. McC. Throckmorton

W. W. Elzey

Willis B. McCormick

William Barker

F. M. Ford

Francis C. Davis

John W. Hickey

Spencer Jackson

John N. Taylor

John B. Farr

J. C. Gunnell

John R. Grigsby

1858–60

John C. Gunnell

Tenley S. Swink

Richard L. Nevitt

Daniel Kincheloe

Francis C. Davis

Richard Johnson

W. B. McCormick

F. C. Davis

Ira Williams

Francis E. Johnston

Geo. H. Padgett

George Burke

John Burke

John Dole

John A. Washington

Alfred Leigh

Francis C. Davis

James Hunter

W. B. McCormick

William L. Lee

Wm. W. Ellzey

John Cowling

Benjamin F. Shreve

William S. Seitz

James P. Machen

George Padgett

James Simpson

-- Mann

W. W. Ball

Richard Johnston

B. D. Utterback

F. M. Ford

Cyrus Hickey

A. S. McKenzie

R. C. Mason

Henry Jenkins

1863–1867

Thomas P. Brown

James H. Rice

Wm. Terry

Andrew Sagar

Herain Cockrill

Samuel Pullman

Reuben Ives

Daniel W. Lewis

E. E. Mason

Levi Dening

Harry Bready

William A. Ferguson

William Walters

William T. Rumsey

Talmadege Thorne

Courtland Lukens

Metrah Makely

John B. Troth

George B. Ives

Josiah B. Bowman

Job Hawxhurst

George F. M. Walters

J. W. Barcroft

George W. Millan

Cyrus Hickey

James C. Dentz

B. D. Utterback

Thomas E. Carper

1866

John Powell

Lewis George

Francis Davis

1867

T. Wm. Barcroft

W. B. Bowman

Thomas E. Carper

Francis C. Davis

James C. Dentz

M. E. Fora

Wm. E. Ford

John B. Troth

Job Hawxhurst

George B. Ives

Richard Johnson

William Lee

Alfred Leigh

Courtland Lukens

Metrah Makely

E. E. Mason

Samuel Pullman

James H. Rice

W. T. Rice

Jonathan Roberts

Silas Simpson

Daniel Sims

Cyrus Stickey

B. D. Utterback

Wm. F. McWalters

1868

T. Wm. Barcroft

W. B. Bowman

Thomas C. Carper

N. P. Dennison

Francis C. Davis

James C. Dentz

Wm. E. Ford

John B. Troth

Job Hawxhurst

Richard Johnson

George B. Ives

Alfred Leigh

Courtland Lukens

Metrah Makely

E. E. Mason

Sam Pullman

W. T. Rice

Silas Simpson

Daniel W. Sims

Cyrus Stickey

R. D. Utterback

Geo. F. M. Walters

1869

T. Wm. Barcroft

W. B. Bowman

Jacob Brooks

Carter Burton

John L. Detwiler

Wm. E. Ford

John B. Troth

George B. Ives

Job Hawxhurst

Richard Johnson

Alfred Leigh

Daniel W. M. Lewis

Courtland Lukens

E. E. Mason

Samuel Pullman

James H. Rice

T. W. Rice

Samuel Shaw

Silas Simpson

D. Sims

Cyrus Stickey

B. D. Utterback

E. W. Wakefield

Wm. Walters

1870

T. Wm. Barcroft

W. B. Bowman

Jacob Brooks

Carter Burton

George B. Ives

Job Hawxhurst

Courtland Lukens

Samuel Pullman

E. W. Wakefield

Geo. F. W. Walters

1870–1874

Richard H. Cockerille

1874–1885

James Sangster

1886–1899

D. M. Chichester

1897–1903

James M. Love

Virginia Circuit Court Judges

John M. Tyler, 1852–1860

No record of a court held, 1861–1863

Edward K. Snead, 1864–1865

Henry W. Thomas, 1866–1868

W. Willoughby, June 1869

Lysander Hill, November 1869

James Keith, 1870–1894

C. E. Nicol, 1895–1907

Louis C. Barely, 1907

J. B. T. Thornton, 1908–1918

Samuel G. Brent, 1918–1928

Howard W. Smith, 1928–1930

Walter T. McCarthy, 1931–1944

Paul E. Brown, 1944–1966

Arthur W. Sinclair, 1950–1977

Harry L. Carrico, 1956–1961

Calvin Van Dyck, 1961–1967

Albert V. Bryan, Jr., 1962–1971

Barnard F. Jennings, 1964–

James Keith, 1966–

William G. Plummer, 1967–

Lewis D. Morris, 1968–

Percy Thornton, Jr., 1968–1977

Burch Millsap, 1968–

James C. Cacheris, 1971–

Thomas J. Middleton, 1975–

Richard J. Jamborsky, 1976–

County General District Court

Robert Fitzgerald, 1951–1955

John Corboy, 1954–1955

John A. Rothrock, Jr., 1955–

J. Mason Grove, 1955–

Martin E. Morris, 1965–

Donald C. Crounse, 1966–1974

Robert M. Hurst, 1972–

Lewis Hall Griffith, 1974–

G. William Hammer, 1976–

Juvenile Court Judges

Frank L. Deierhoi, 1965–

Richard J. Jamborsky, 1968–1976

Philip N. Brophy, 1973–

Arnold B. Kassabian, 1976–

Raymond O. Kellam, 1976–1977

APPENDIX C

PORTRAITS IN THE OLD COURTHOUSE

James Roberdeau Allison, (1864–1927), was born in Orange County, Virginia, grew up in Centreville and taught school in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. He served the county as deputy treasurer, deputy sheriff and then was elected sheriff in 1904. Consistently re-elected, he was sheriff until his death.

Paul E. Brown, (1904–1968), was born in Oklahoma, and moved to Fairfax County with his family in 1919. He served as commonwealth attorney for three terms and was appointed judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court in 1944. He served as senior court judge from 1951 until his death.

Daniel McCarty Chichester, (1834–1897), was born in Fairfax County, served in the Confederate army and later taught school in Maryland and Tennessee. He practiced law and was for a short time superintendent of schools and a delegate to the state legislature. He was elected judge of Fairfax and Alexandria (Arlington) counties in 1886 and served until his death.

Bryan Fairfax, (1737–1802), was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia and grew up at Belvoir, in Fairfax County. He was a justice of the Fairfax County court and was ordained as an Episcopal minister, serving as rector of Fairfax Parish 1790–1792. He held the title of eighth Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron, from 1800 until his death.

Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron, (1693–1781) was born at Leeds Castle in Kent, England and immigrated to Fairfax County in 1747. In 1749, he was commissioned a justice of the peace in each county within the entire Northern Neck, of which he was proprietor. He was a trustee of the town of Alexandria and in 1754 became commandant of the frontier militia. He lived at Belvoir until 1761, when he moved to "Greenway Court," his estate in the Shenandoah Valley where he spent the remainder of his life.

C. Vernon Ford, (1871–1922), was born in the town of Fairfax, and practiced law with his cousin, Joseph E. Willard. Ford was appointed commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County in 1879 and, later elected, served in this capacity until his death.

William Edwin Graham, (1850–1916), was born in Fairfax County. He succeeded his father as clerk of the circuit court in 1887, serving until 1904, at which time he became deputy clerk under F. W. Richardson, serving in this position until his death.

George Johnston, (1700–1766), was a son of Dr. James Johnston, who settled in Maryland in the seventeenth century. He was a trustee of Alexandria and practiced law there and in Winchester. He represented Fairfax County in the House of Burgesses from 1758 until his death and was the author of certain resolutions presented by Patrick Henry in 1765, in opposition to the Stamp Act.

Walter Jones, (1776–1861), was born in Northumberland County, Virginia and practiced law in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Appointed U. S. attorney for the District of Columbia, 1804–1821, he practiced law before the U. S. Supreme Court and in Virginia and Maryland. He was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society. At the time of his death, he was Major-General of the militia of the District of Columbia.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, (1837–1891), was born at "Arlington." He rose to the rank of Major-General of cavalry in the Confederate army. After the Civil War, he was elected a state senator and then a congressman. He died at "Ravensworth" in Fairfax County while serving his second term in congress.

George Mason, (1725–1792), the fourth of that name in the Virginia colony was born on Dogue's Neck, now Mason Neck, then in Stafford County, but now in Fairfax County. He was a justice of the county for most of his adult life, and a trustee of the town of Alexandria. He built his home, "Gunston Hall" in 1758. In 1774, he was the principal author of the Fairfax Resolves, and in 1776, the principal writer of the Virginia constitution and declaration of rights. The first ten amendments of the constitution were added, in part, because of his insistence on the necessity for a federal bill of rights.

Robert Walton Moore, (1859–1941), was born in the town of Fairfax, and practiced law in the county. He served as a state senator and as a congressman. In 1933 he was appointed an assistant secretary of state, and in 1937, he became counselor of the Department of State. Throughout his adult life he was a member of numerous boards and commissions including the boards of visitors of the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary.

Ferdinand Dawson Richardson, (-- –1880), entered the clerk's office in 1826 under William Moss, clerk, and served as an assistant clerk or deputy clerk until 1870, when he was appointed clerk of the court, which position he held until his death.

Frederick Wilmer Richardson, (1853–1936), was born in Fairfax, and was the son of F. D. Richardson. He was deputy clerk under his father for nine years, succeeding him in 1880. Elected to the new position of clerk of the Circuit Court in 1881, he served in that capacity until 1887, and again from 1904 to 1935.

Henry Wirt Thomas, (1812–1890), was born in Loudoun County, Virginia. He served as commonwealth's attorney in Fairfax and was elected to the state legislature for a number of terms between 1841 and 1875. Following the Civil War, he was appointed judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Virginia and later appointed lieutenant governor to fill out an unexpired term.

John Webb Tyler, (1795–1862), served Fairfax County as a judge in the circuit court of Virginia from 1850–1861. The circuit included Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun and Fauquier counties and the quarterly courts were held at the county seats, including Fairfax Court House.

George Washington, (1732–1799), was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and moved to "Mount Vernon" in Fairfax County when he was sixteen. He became a surveyor, was elected a burgess, and appointed a justice of the Fairfax County court. During the American Revolution, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the united colonies. He was elected the first president of the United States of America under the new constitution in 1789, and again in 1793.

Joseph Edward Willard, (1865–1924), was born in Washington, D. C. He practiced law, and was lieutenant governor of Virginia, 1902–1906. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him minister to Spain in 1913; later he was elevated to ambassador to Spain. He owned the Willard Hotel in Washington, but lived part of his life in the town of Fairfax, at "Layton Hall."

APPENDIX D

CLERK'S OFFICE

Excerpt from the Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser July 15, 1853.

NOTICE TO BUILDERS-Sealed proposals will be received by the undersigned, Commissioners, until Saturday, the 16th day of July next, at 12 o'clock M, for taking down the present Clerk's office of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, and rebuilding it on the same ground, with the materials and of the size and description, following, to wit: The foundation wall to be 2 feet below the surface, and 15 inches thick, of good stone, laid in mortar-the walls above the ground to be laid on the stone foundation, of brick, fourteen inches thick, and laid in good mortar,-the building to be 36 feet long by 24 feet wide including the walls, two stories high, and of the height of the present building, with a passage of entry 12 feet wide, adjoining the County Court office; the passage wall also resting on a stone foundation and running from bottom to top-doors at each end of the entry, and one door to each of the rooms-each room to have four windows, twenty lights and 8 × 10 glass. The outer doors and window frames to be of cast iron, with stone sills, and the doors and window shutters to be covered with sheet iron, so as to be fire proof. The joists to be 2 × 10 inches, 16 inches apart on the lowest floor, resting upon a girder 6 × 12 inches; on the upper, without a girder, but properly braced, and the flooring of the rooms to be of the best North Carolina boards, planed, tongued and grooved, and one and a quarter inches thick. The entry floor of best flagging brick, and the stairway of stone. The roofing to be of slate, of good quality, and the rafters to be substantially framed, and suitable for slate roof. To each of the rooms there is to be a fireplace. The woodwork is to be of the best material and workmanship, and corresponding with the other work. The house is to be guttered, and the iron, wood, and guttering to have two coats of paint on it. Each door to be provided with suitable locks, the house walls plastered, and the whole completed on or before the last day of January 1854, at which time the work if approved by the Commissioners, and also by the Court, will be paid for. The proposals will state what the entire work will be done for, including the furnishing of all materials and labor, and, also, including the taking down of the old building and the use of such of the old materials as can be used for rebuilding; also for what the work will be done without regard to the old building, either in taking down or the use of old materials. Notice to the successful bidder will be given within five days after opening the bids, and bond with security required from the person to whom the contract may be awarded, but the Commissioners reserve the right to reject all. For further information, apply to either of the undersigned at Fairfax Court House.

NEWMAN BURKE )

GEO. W. HUNTER, JR. ) Comm'rs

ALFRED MOSS )

APPENDIX E

COURTHOUSE RESTORATION

SCHEDULE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED

IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE

FAIRFAX COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 1967

The following list comprises the schedule of work to be performed in the reconstruction of the Fairfax County Courthouse as set forth in the drawings prepared by Walter M. Macomber, architect for the project, in December 1965:

DEMOLITION-Remove main floor, subfloor and joists, taking care to leave two columns supporting balcony, and beams beneath floor untouched. Remove all material in such a manner as to be re-usable if suitable.

Remove all woodwork within building: wainscot, railings, bench, window & door casing, etc. Remove all frame partitions.

Remove cantilevered forward section of balcony back to existing beam, including stair.

Remove existing segmental-top two-storey windows at sides of building. Remove sash only from existing small windows, unless jambs are rotted or otherwise found unsuitable for re-use.

Carefully remove all finished flooring in balcony and porch chamber, taking care not to damage subfloor.

All heating pipes shall be removed and temporarily capped off below the first floor. All electrical wiring shall be removed and recapped below the first floor level except such as shall be needed for power tools, etc.

Contractor shall carefully remove all existing monuments and plaques within building, securely store them, and reset them upon completion at direction of architect.

MATERIALS-All new joists and studs shall be of construction grade fir, free of all parasites & decay, having a moisture content no greater than 18%.

All new subfloor to be 5/8" plyscord.

Apply sisalcraft paper between subfloor and finished floor.

All flooring shall be 25/32" × 51/2" tongue and groove clear southern long leaf yellow pine, with relieved back & face edges slightly eased. The use of resawn used mill framing obtained from demolition companies is recommended in order to obtain straight grain. Architect must be submitted samples of flooring for his approval before use. No pieces shorter than eight feet will be used, except where necessary at juncture of floor & wall. All stair treads shall be of 1' 8" thick clear yellow pine, bull-nosed.

All interior woodwork to be of clear western white pine, S 4 S, of thickness as shown on plans.

Wainscot shall be of 3/4' thick by 35/8", 51/2" & 71/2" clear white pine, tongue & grooved, with a 1/4" bead on one face edge.

Doors, windows (sash & jamb) & balusters will be of clear western white pine. Front door jamb shall be of 15/8 th. clear yellow pine. Interior jambs of 11/8" th. Cl. yellow pine.

Pew material to be of 11/8" clear yellow pine, S 4 S.

Rails to be birch for staining.

Moisture content for all to be no greater than 12%.

FOUNDATION WORK-Point up all existing foundations, piers, footings, etc. in basement and crawl space.

Replace all supporting beams rotted or otherwise unsuitable for re-use.

Excavate existing crawl space to a minimum of three feet below joists, and cover with 21/2–3" thick broom finished concrete slab, on 4 mil polyethylene film.

Move existing basement stair to location on plan, and floor-over opening thus made to top of stairs.

MASONRY-Carefully remove several sample face bricks from existing sidewalls, clean all but weather-face, and submit to Locher Brick Co., Glasgow, Va. for duplication.

Remove segmental arches above two storey window openings, and extend window openings to same height as those of porch chamber windows. Using existing downstairs window sills, brick-in two rough openings required by new windows. Set steel lintels as called for on plan, and brick between vertical window openings. Take care that the new brickwork appears continuous with existing masonry & is properly toothed & bonded. Architect shall approve colour of mortar and duplicated brick before setting in place.

Repoint or rebuild existing chimneys & fireplaces. Build new hearths of duplicated brick for downstairs fireplaces.

Repoint all existing brickwork, interior & exterior, as may be requisite.

WEATHERSTRIPPING-All double-hung windows shall be weatherstripped with "Chamberlain" No. 100-A Zinc Heavy-Duty, full-sash units, with protection at head, meeting rail & sill.

Front entrance door shall have spring bronze weatherstripping all around, except at sill which is to receive "Chamberlain" No. 869-A narrow brass threshhold with No. 826 bronze door hook.

INSULATION-Entire building to be covered with 4" thick batts of rock-wool or fibre-glass, combination aluminum foil insulation, applied immediately over lath between ceiling joists.

PAINTING & DECORATING-All woodwork, interior or exterior, shall be back primed with white lead before erection.

All exterior woodwork to receive two coats of white lead in oil. Remove loose or heavy accumulations of paint from existing woodwork before painting.

All interior woodwork to receive one coat of primer, one coat half primer & half enamel & finish coat of semi-gloss enamel.

Plaster surfaces, when thoroughly dry, shall be washed with zinc sulphate neutralizer. First paint coat shall be wall size and primer. Second coat two parts flat wall paint & one part size. Finish with egg-shell wall paint. Plaster cornice to receive first coat of size, second coat half size & half enamel. Finish coat semi-gloss enamel. Architect shall select all colours.

FLOOR FINISHING-Floors shall be lightly sanded to remove stains and imperfections & to reasonably level. Floors shall be stained, filled, shellaced and waxed. Colour of stain shall be selected by architect.

LATHING & PLASTERING-All interior surfaces of exterior masonry walls shall receive 3/8" gypsum lath securely nailed to 1" × 2" wood furring strips anchored to masonry. Coat masonry before furring with "Thoroseal" from Standard Dry Wall Products Co., New Eagle, Penna.

Entire ceiling to be lathed with high-rib metal lath securely nailed directly to ceiling joists. Stud partitions to receive 3/8" gypsum lath. Ceiling of porch to receive high-rib metal lath applied over existing wood ceiling. All inside corners to receive expanded metal cornerite. Outside corners to receive metal corner bead. Apply strips of metal lath 6" wide over openings in stud partitions.

All plaster cornices shall be run in place and formed over heavy gauge metal lath, with moulding plaster. All surfaces to be plastered minimum 3/4" thick (including lath) in two coats; Brown & finish white. White coat to have smooth float sand finish.

GLAZING-All windows to be glazed with 9" × 103/4" welded glass edge or metal edged insulating glass one-half inch thick composed of two sheets of 1/8" double strength "A" window glass with one-quarter inch air space between. All glass to be set in frames with glaziers points. Back-bed w/thin coating of elastic glazing compound and putty-in smoothly.

SCREENING-All louvres in cupola to be back screened with fine mesh, copper screen wire.

FINISHED HARDWARE-All hinges, locks, latches, shutter hardware, etc. shall be selected by the architect. Allow $400.00 for finished hardware.

LIST OF SOURCES

BOOKS

Black, J. B. The Reign of Elizabeth, 1558–1603. Oxford: Oxford University, 1936.

Bruce, P. A. Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Putnam, 1910.

Catton, Bruce. A Stillness at Appomatox. New York: Cardinal Giant Edition, Pocket Books, Inc., 1958.

Clark, Sir Kenneth. Civilisation. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

Cresswell, Nicholas. The Journals of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774–1777. Pt. Washington, N. Y.: Kennikat Press, 1968.

Davis, Jefferson. The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. New York: Yoseloff, 1958.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Industrial and Historical Sketch of Fairfax County, Virginia. Fairfax: County Board of Supervisors, 1907.

Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. Historic, Progressive Fairfax County in Old Virginia. Alexandria: Newell-Cole. 1928.

Fennelly, Catherine. The New England Village Scene: 1800. Sturbridge: Old Sturbridge Village, 1955.

Fleming, Walter L. The Sequel of Appomatox. New Haven: Yale University, 1921.

Fletcher, Sir Banister. A History of Architecture. New York: Scribners, 1961.

Freeman, Douglas S. George Washington: A Biography: Young Washington. New York: Scribner, 1948.

Hall, Wilmer, ed. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1945.

Harrison, Fairfax. Landmarks of Old Prince William. Richmond: Old Dominion Press, 1924. Reprint Berryville, Va.: Chesapeake Book Co., 1964.

Hiden, Martha. How Justice Grew: Virginia Counties: An Abstract of Their Formation. Williamsburg: Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration, 1957.

A Hornbook of Virginia History. Richmond: Virginia State Library. [1965].

Kuhlman, Charles. The Development of the Flour-Milling Industry in the United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929.

Martin, Joseph. Gazetteer of Virginia and the District of Columbia. Charlottesville, 1835.

McDanel, Ralph. The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1891–92. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1928.

McIlwaine, H. R., ed. Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1742–49. Richmond, 1909.

Minutes of the Vestry, Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732–1785. Lorton, Va.: Pohick Church, 1974.

Moore, Gay M. Seaport on the Potomac. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, 1949.

Morison, Samuel E. and Commager, Henry S. The Growth of the American Republic. New York: Oxford, 1937.

O'Neal, William. Architecture in Virginia. New York: Walker, 1968.

Payne, Lloyd. The Miller in Eighteenth Century Virginia. Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg, 1963.

Porter, Albert O. County Government in Virginia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1947.

Powell, Mary G. The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia from July 13, 1749 to May 24, 1861. Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928.

Programme of the Virginia Good Roads Convention. Roanoke: Stone Printing Co. [1894].

Prussing, Eugene E. The Estate of George Washington, Deceased. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1927.

Rives, William C. History of the Life and Times of James Madison. Boston: Little, Brown, 1873.

Roman, Alfred. Military Operations of Gen. Beauregard. New York: Harper & Bros., 1884.

Rust, Jeanne. History of the Town of Fairfax. Washington: Moore & Moore, 1960.

Steadman, Melvin. Falls Church by Fence and Fireside. Falls Church, Va.: Falls Church Public Library, 1964.

Sydnor, Charles. American Revolutionaries in the Making. New York: Collier, 1962.

Wayland, John. History of Rockingham County, Virginia. Dayton, Va.: Ruebush-Elkins, 1912.

ARTICLES

Anderson, Robert. "The Administration of Justice in the Counties of Fairfax, and Alexandria and the City of Alexandria." Arlington Historical Magazine, II (1961): 1.

Andrews, Marshall. "A History of Railroads in Fairfax County." Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County," III (1954): 30–31.

Burke, Elizabeth. "Our Heritage: A History of Fairfax County." Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County. 1956–7.

Chapman, Thomas, Jr. "The Secession Election in Fairfax County, May 23, 1861." Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County, IV (1955): 50.

Hyman, Sidney. "Empire of Liberty." With Heritage So Rich. New York: Random House, 1966.

"Letters of George Mason to Zachariah Johnston." Tyler's Quarterly Review, V. (January 1924.)

"Martha Washington's Will and the Story of its Loss and Recovery by Fairfax County." Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County, Virginia, II (1952–53): 40–62.

Moore, William C. "Jeremiah Moore: 1746–1815." William and Mary Quarterly, 2d ser. XIII, 18, 21.

Smith, Governor William. "The Skirmish at Fairfax Court House." The Fairfax County Centennial Commission. Vienna, Virginia: 1961.

University of Virginia Newsletter. Charlottesville: Institute of Government, University of Virginia. XLIII (July 15, 1967): 1.

Whiffen, Marcus. "The Early Courthouses of Virginia." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. XVIII (March 1959): 1.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Annual Report, 1969.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Books

Fairfax County Court Minute Books

Fairfax County Deed Books

Fairfax County Record of Surveys, 1742–1850.

Northern Neck Grant Books

Virginia Laws

INTERVIEWS AND UNPUBLISHED WORKS

Architectural drawings, 1951–1956, Facilities Management Office, County of Fairfax.

Artemel, Janice, "James Wren, Gentleman Joiner," (unpublished manuscript) Falls Church, Va., 1976.

Chapman, Thomas. Fairfax County, Virginia. Interview, 13 February 1970.

Feiss, Carl. "Court Houses of Virginia," lecture. Latrobe (Washington) Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians, 8 November 1968.

Macomber, Walter. Fairfax, Virginia. Interview, 2 March 1970.

Moger, Allen W. "The Rebuilding of the Old Dominion," (unpublished doctoral dissertation) Columbia University, 1940.

Sprouse, Edith M., ed. Fairfax County Abstracts: Court Order Books 1749–1792.

NEWSPAPERS

Alexandria Gazette

Columbia Mirror & Alexandria Advertiser

Fairfax County Free Press

Fairfax Herald

Fairfax News

Northern Virginia Sun

Virginia Gazette

Washington Post

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

John F. Herrity, Chairman

Martha V. Pennino, Vice-Chairman

Joseph Alexander

Warren I. Cikins

Alan H. Magazine

Audrey Moore

James M. Scott

John P. Shacochis

Marie B. Travesky

HISTORY COMMISSION

Edith M. Sprouse, Chairman

Donie Rieger, Vice-Chairman

Bernard N. Boston

C. J. S. Durham

William Elkjer

Denzil O. Evans

Mary M. Fahringer

Ceres Gaskins

John P. Liberty

Virginia B. Peters

Mayo S. Stuntz

Charles Cecil Wall

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD

John J. Gattuso, Chairman

Glenn Ovrevik, Vice-Chairman

Thomas Cagley

Donald C. Cannon

Donald R. Chandler

Donovan E. Hower

Louis Papa

S. Richard Rio

James D. Webber

Mary M. Fahringer, ex officio

OFFICE OF COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING

Theodore J. Wessel, Director

Peter T. Johnson, Branch Chief

Nan Netherton, Historian

Elizabeth David, Historic Preservation Planner

Donald Sweig, Research Historian

Jay Linard, Copy Editor

Annette Thomas, Copy Preparation

Gloria Matthews, Designer

Robin Pedlar, Assistant

Back cover photo, court papers by Bernie Boston, 1976.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.

Copyright material in the original (the image on p. 76) has been omitted from this ebook.

No anchors for footnotes 54 and 163 are present in the text.

Discrepancies have been preserved between titles in the List Of Illustrations and the illustrations themselves.