{"nrhp_refnum":"69000334","name":"Lyceum, The","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"201 S. Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alexandria (Independent City)","county":"Alexandria","state":"VA","lat":38.72538978000006,"lon":-77.04748615999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Greek Revival brick building faced with scored stucco at 201 South Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia, built circa 1837 (other documents in the file give 1839) for the Lyceum society founded by Benjamin Hallowell.","why_significant":"The building is described as an unusually fine example of monumental Greek Revival architecture in Virginia. It is also a rare survivor of a structure built specifically to house local cultural institutions. It served the Lyceum society and the Alexandria Library Company until the Civil War.","narrative":"Built around 1837 at 201 South Washington Street in Alexandria, this two-story brick building was erected as the headquarters of the Lyceum, a society for scholarly activity founded in 1834 by Benjamin Hallowell. It also housed the Alexandria Library Company, founded in 1749 as the city's first organization for the advancement of learning. The Lyceum remained an important institution until the Civil War disrupted its activities; afterward the society was dissolved and the building became a residence for the daughter of John B. Dangerfield. Its facade is faced with scored stucco and has three bays separated by pilasters, with a projecting two-story pedimented Doric portico at the center. A Doric entablature with triglyphs and metopes surrounds the building. Much interior woodwork was lost to early twentieth-century alterations, though the staircase survives. The nomination describes it as an unusually fine monumental Greek Revival building in Virginia and a rare surviving structure built for a cultural function. At the time of listing it stood abandoned and badly deteriorated.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"At the time of nomination (1968-69) the building was abandoned and badly deteriorated; later file notes record that it was acquired by the City of Alexandria and restored.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.583747-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/6794/41679454/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000334.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000334/312f3c365f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000334/312f3c365f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lyceum_(Alexandria,_Virginia).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao at en.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:Lyceum_(Alexandria,_Virginia).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679454","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_(Alexandria,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6707234"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/alexandria/lyceum-the-69000334/"}