{"nrhp_refnum":"01000143","name":"Presbyterian Meeting House, Old","other_names":["First Presbyterian Church of Alexandria","DHR File No. 100-98"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"321 S. Fairfax St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alexandria (Independent City)","county":"Alexandria","state":"VA","lat":38.801561624000044,"lon":-77.04351667699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Federal-style church at 321 South Fairfax Street in the Alexandria Historic District, Virginia, built in 1836-37 after an 1835 lightning fire destroyed the 1775 meeting house. The lot also holds a graveyard, an 1787 manse and a 1957 education building.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as the early home of Alexandria's second-oldest and first non-Anglican congregation, serving Scottish merchants and sea captains. It is an intact example of conservative ecclesiastical design of its era. George Washington's funeral eulogy was delivered here in 1799, and the churchyard holds graves of many prominent early Alexandrians.","narrative":"Built in 1836-37, this two-story brick church at 321 South Fairfax Street in Alexandria has a pedimented front gable and a five-stage bell tower at the rear. It replaced the city's first non-Anglican house of worship, a 1775 building that burned after a lightning strike in 1835. Whether any of the earlier walls survive remains uncertain, though some bluestone foundation appears to have been reused. The lot also holds a graveyard in use mainly from about 1772 to 1810, with monuments to associates of George Washington and a tomb of an unknown Revolutionary soldier, plus a 1787 manse now used as offices. The congregation grew from Scottish and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who settled the port town. Washington's funeral eulogy was delivered here in December 1799. The church closed in 1886, reopened in 1929 as a museum after a national fundraising campaign, and returned to worship in 1949. Its interior retains boxed pews, galleries and a curved apse.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic (Federal style with some Greek Revival details)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Returned to service as a church in 1949 after being closed in 1886 and reopened as a museum and shrine in 1929; the church and its buildings remain in religious use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.681053-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/46/6794/41679446/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/01000143.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000143/8b59ef00b4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000143/8b59ef00b4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Presbyterian_Meeting_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Presbyterian_Meeting_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000928","name":"Alexandria Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/alexandria-historic-district-66000928/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679446","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Presbyterian_Meeting_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084779"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/alexandria/presbyterian-meeting-house-old-01000143/"}