Wren a tract of 200 acres on which Wren was
then living. Ultimately, Wren built a home, now called "Long View,"
adjacent to the present city of Falls Church, and assembled a
substantial plantation, known as "Winter Hill," now within Falls
Church City. He also operated, at Winter Hill, "Colo. Wren's Tavern."

James Wren served as a justice of the County Court. He was a trustee
of the Town of Turberville which in 1798 was laid off on land near the
Little Falls of the Potomac but never fulfilled the hopes of its
promoters. Following his military service in the Revolutionary War he
held various offices in the County government, including that of
sheriff and commissioner of the tax. He acquired extensive
landholdings in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. James Wren was married
three times; first, in 1753, to Catherine Brent of Overwharton Parish
(Aquia Church); next, about 1771-74 to Valinda Wade, and last, to
Sarah Jones of Alexandria in 1804. He died in 1815 and was buried at
Long View.[145]

The architecture which James Wren created for the courthouse--as well
as his churches and the numerous private buildings he designed and
built under contract or for his friends--reflect the general level to
which that art had advanced in colonial Virginia. The styles were
adapted from prototypes in England.[146] Innovations which were made
in adapting these styles to American use were, in most instances,
attributable to the differences in building materials and the types of
skilled labor which were available to the American builder.

_The Origin of the Courthouse Design._ The architectural design which
James Wren selected for the Fairfax County Courthouse utilized several
features which already were familiar hallmarks of public buildings in
colonial Virginia, and in particular the colonial capitol at
Williamsburg--probably the most impressive public building in Virginia
at that time. The use of brick as building material, the use of two
stories, topped by a cupola, and, most strikingly, the use of arches,
all combined to suggest the influence of this capitol building on the
courthouse design.[147] The courthouse was far from being a copy of
the capitol and Wren added to these familiar features several new ones
that made the courthouse an architectural innovation in its own right.
When it was completed in 1800, the Fairfax County Courthouse was the
first example of a new design which architectural historians have
called "the town hall st