City of Fairfax Historic District (Additional Documentation)

Centered on the 1800 Fairfax County Courthouse, this 24-acre district in the City of Fairfax, Virginia, grew from a crossroads where Little River Turnpike met the Ox Road, now Chain Bridge Road. It contains 48 buildings: commercial blocks, four residences, local government buildings and a church complex. Thirty-two of them contribute to its character. The earliest are brick buildings from the early 1800s, including the courthouse, designed by James Wren, and Earp's Ordinary, a former inn and stagecoach stop. Most of the rest date from the early 20th century, when electric railway lines raised the county's population and the county seat expanded. Colonial Revival design runs through the period, seen in the 1900 Old Town Hall, the 1931 bank and the 1933 Truro chapel. The district is significant for its link to county government and Civil War events, and for streetscapes of two-story brick and wood buildings that keep the feel of a small Main Street town. About 75 percent of the buildings are in commercial use.