Warrenton Historic District (Additional Documentation)

Warrenton is a small courthouse town in central Fauquier County, Virginia, about forty-seven miles south of Washington, D.C. The historic district takes in the Main Street business area, Courthouse Square and five later residential neighborhoods, with 323 buildings in all. It grew from a mid-18th-century crossroads settlement known as Fauquier Court House, the county seat since 1759, and was laid out on a grid in 1811. The focal point is the Classical Revival courthouse of 1890, designed by William H. Baldwin, surrounded by Colonial Revival public buildings of the 1920s. Tree-lined streets such as Culpeper and Winchester hold Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate houses. The district was recognized for its architecture and for its association with law and politics, including early careers of John Marshall, William "Extra Billy" Smith and Samuel Chilton, and for its many Civil War-related structures. A highway bypass has kept the historic center largely intact.