The Fairfax County Courthouse Part 8

_a.s.sociated Buildings and Structures._ Certain structures were a.s.sociated 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 a.s.sociated 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 pa.s.sage 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 windla.s.s operated by a hand-crank. Later the box on which the windla.s.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Naval cannon in front of the courthouse.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Marr Monument commemorating the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War, June 1861. Photo from the National Archives.]

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. Was.h.i.+ngton 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: World War I Memorial Plaque.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: World War II and Korean Conflict Memorial Plaque.]

_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 Was.h.i.+ngton, and George Mason.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mural at the Central Staircase, Fairfax County Courthouse. Painted in 1954 by Esther L. Stewart.]

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 a.s.sumed to be separate buildings.

However, identical advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 Willc.o.xen 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 s.p.a.ce that is a.s.sociated with the nave of a church.[140] The s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.cious 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 part.i.tion. 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 princ.i.p.al 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 s.h.i.+llings 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 a.s.sembled 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 Buckinghams.h.i.+re (1682) ill.u.s.trate these features with variations of details.