rt
ordered that Alexandria city jail be used until a proper jail could be
erected in the county.

[134] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, June Court, 1891.

[135] Interview with Thomas P. Chapman, Jr.

[136] Hening, _Statutes_, October 1792, XIII, 453-455.

[137] _Fairfax Herald_, May 13, 1887, notes that Mr. T. R. Sangster
has removed his law office to the Fairfax Hotel; The Union Hotel and
Fairfax Hotel sometimes have been assumed to be separate buildings.
However, identical advertisements of this hotel appeared in the
_Fairfax Herald_ on April 8, 1887 and May 6, 1887, the former calling
it the Union Hotel, and the latter calling it the Fairfax Hotel. The
April 29, 1887 _Fairfax Herald_ reports the rental of the Union Hotel
by Burke. By tradition, the hotel building across from the courthouse
has been known as the Willcoxen Tavern or just simply "The Tavern."

[138] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Minute Book, #6 p. 139,
October 2, 1931.

2. THE COURTHOUSE

_The Courthouse Plan and Its Architect._ The design of the Fairfax
County Courthouse followed the Virginia tradition that the seats of
civil government should be designed with dignity as well as adequacy
for their function.[139] Consequently, the courthouse building, which
in other respects was a plain rectangular two-story brick structure,
departed from strict utilitarian design with its open arcade on the
ground floor front, and its cupola in the center of the roof, serving
as a base for the flag pole and housing the bell which was used to
announce the convening of court.

The advantages of the two-story building for innovations in design and
decoration were even more evident with respect to the interior.
Entered through the front door which opened into the arcade, the
courtroom gave the same impression of vaulted space that is associated
with the nave of a church.[140] The space over the arcade on the
second floor was enclosed, and presumably used as the jury room. This
room was entered from a balcony located across the front of the
building (the back of the court chamber) and along each side of the
building. At the front of the chamber (as it appeared in the late
nineteenth century) was a raised bench, and directly to the left of
the judge's seat was a doorway leading into a pair of rooms used by
the Court.

No descriptions of the interior of the courtroom as it appeared in the
early part of the nineteenth century have been found; but it is
p