."[130]

During the next forty years, the functions of the clerk grew in both
size and importance as he was called upon to serve both the County
court and the circuit court. The need for repairs combined with the
need for more space required increasing attention to the old building,
until, in 1853, it was determined that a new office building for the
clerk must be built. Newman Burke, George W. Hunter, Jr. and Alfred
Moss were appointed commissioners to oversee the demolition of the old
office building and the construction of a new one.

Fortunately, the commissioners' notice to builders, inviting bids on
these jobs, was published in the _Alexandria Gazette and Virginia
Advertiser_ of July 15, 1853, and provides a detailed description of
the materials and construction to be used. It included the instruction
that such of the old materials as could be used in the rebuilding
should be so used.

Like the courthouse building, the clerk's office suffered damage and
deterioration during the war years of 1861-65. When the courthouse
compound became a headquarters for Union army patrols, and civilian
government either ceased or moved to a temporary seat elsewhere, care
and custody of the clerk's office could not be guaranteed. Many of
the record books and files were taken to places of safekeeping in
private homes. However, many could not be moved in time to prevent
them from being scattered, taken, lost or destroyed as soldiers
occupied the office building. When the war ended, the task of
re-equipping the office and restoring it to usefulness was a major
one.

[Illustration: The clerk's office about 1907.]

In 1875, the clerk's office burned and subsequently, a new office
building was added to the courthouse complex. It was a two-story brick
building, larger than the old clerk's office and located beyond it to
the south of the courthouse. It was probably completed by 1881, at
which time the board of supervisors was appropriating funds for new
furnishings. The architecture of this newest office presented a
mixture of three styles. In overall appearance, its square shape,
hipped roof and functional design were reminiscent of the eighteenth
century buildings of James Wren. The late nineteenth century's
preference for exterior decoration was illustrated by a dentiled
cornice, a belt of corbelling three courses wide in the brickwork
below the cornice, and brick pilasters on each side of the main
doorway, topped by scrolls and