Lee Corner

The Potts-Fitzhugh House (also called the Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home) is a historic house at 607 Oronoco Street, Alexandria, Virginia. It served in the early 1800s as the home of Anne Hill Carter Lee and her family, including the eponymous Robert. It should not be confused with the Lee-Fendall House, which is located at 614 Oronoco Street.

The Lee–Fendall House is a historic house museum and garden located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia at 614 Oronoco Street. Since its construction in 1785 the house has served as home to thirty-seven members of the Lee family (1785–1903), hundreds of convalescing Union soldiers (1863–1865), the prominent Downham family (1903–1937), the family of powerful labor leader John L. Lewis (1937–1969), and enslaved or free servants of those families. The 1785 house, standing on its original half-acre lot, is in the vernacular "telescopic style" of architecture similar to many Maryland homes, but rare in northern Virginia (see below). The house was renovated in 1850, adding Greek Revival and Italianate elements to the original structure. The historic home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for state significance and the Virginia Landmarks Register, and is a documented contributing feature to the National Historic Landmark District of Alexandria, Virginia. The property is now owned and operated by the Virginia Trust for Historic Preservation. It is run as the Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden providing exhibits, tours, and special programs to: Preserve its architectural and historic value Bring to light the key business, political, military, and labor roles played by its enslaved or free people Spread knowledge and appreciation for Alexandrian, Virginian, and American history.The Lee–Fendall House Museum and Garden is usually open for tours on the hour Wed.-Sat. 10–3, and Sun. 1–3. Call (703) 548-1789 to confirm. Special programs, educational videos, and related materials can be found on the Museum web site and social media. The Museum and Garden is also available for private rentals.

The historical building located at 515 North Washington Street in Alexandria, Virginia, has been used as a cotton mill, prison, factory, office space, and apartments. It was built by the Mount Vernon Manufacturing Company in 1848 in present-day Old Town Alexandria. After the original owners were unsuccessful with their cotton mill business venture, the building was sold in 1855. After a renovation, the new owner was able to operate a successful business, but his success was cut short after the Civil War began. The building was one of many local businesses that the Union Army seized after it entered Alexandria. After briefly serving as a hospital and warehouse, the mill was repurposed and renamed the Washington Street Military Prison, the largest of the five Civil War prisons in the city. Rufus Dudley Pettit was named warden in 1864 and he was responsible for widespread abuse and sadistic behavior towards prisoners. After the war the building briefly reverted to operating as a cotton mill, but after that business venture failed, it was sold and sat empty until 1902 when Robert Portner and his Portner Brewing Company purchased the property. The building operated as a bottling plant until Virginia passed Prohibition legislation, resulting in the plant closing. It was purchased by the Express Spark Plug Company which made spark plugs there until it went out of business in 1928. The building was converted into the Belle Haven Apartment House in the 1930s and it remained in residential use until 1981, when it was renovated and became office space. The building was the headquarters for the International Association of Chiefs of Police from 1992 until 2014, when the property once again underwent a renovation. Since the building is a contributing property to the Alexandria Historic District, the project underwent a review by historic preservation organizations. The property was converted into The Mill, a 25-unit apartment building featuring original architectural details and an adjoining park. An interesting feature of the building is that a mannequin nicknamed Oscar is perched in the cupola. There are a few rumors as to Oscar's origin, but the most likely story is that it was brought into the building sometime around 1920. The other rumors are that it was placed there by local police after an employee was brutally murdered on the property in 1854 or that prison guards would use it as a stand-in when they would go on breaks. Oscar is treated as an historical part of the building and during the most recent renovation, it was carefully preserved.

The Moses Hepburn Rowhouses, located at 206 through 212 North Pitt Street between Cameron Street and Hammond Court in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia, are a set of four historic rowhouses. They were built about 1850 by Moses Hepburn, a prominent African American businessman and citizen, and are two-story, two bay, side hall plan dwellings. Originally identical, the unit at #206 was updated in the late-19th century. Each has had one- or two-story additions in the rear. .The houses were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The Alexandria Library sit-in was one of the first staged sit-in actions in the United States, pioneering the use of nonviolent direct action to demand equal rights for African Americans. On August 21, 1939, five Black men sat down inside the Alexandria Public Library and quietly read books, a transgression of the library's "whites only" policy. Their actions were coordinated by Alexandria attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker, who planned the action to create a test case challenging the library's racial segregation policy. The men were escorted out of the library by police and charged with disorderly conduct. A ruling was not filed in their court case; in October 2019, all charges against the men were dismissed. The Alexandria sit-in is one of the earliest precursors in the U.S. of the strategies used during the civil rights movement.

Alexandria Library is the public library in Alexandria, Virginia in the United States.

The Hollensbury Spite House is a spite house located at 523 Queen Street in Alexandria, Virginia. The narrow building measures 7-feet 6-inches (2.3 m) wide and is often called the skinniest house in the United States. The house has drawn international attention, being covered by numerous news outlets, and was once featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It is frequently visited by tourists who often pose in front of the building and is also included on local history tours. The house is 350 square-feet (32.5 sq m) but also includes an outdoor patio and garden, providing additional entertaining space. Because of its narrow front door and small interior space, the house is decorated with smaller furniture pieces and antiques. The building's namesake, John Hollensbury, reportedly built the house in 1830 to stop people loitering in the alley adjoining his house and to prevent wagon-wheel hubs from damaging the house's exterior walls. This is the most commonly known story as to why the house was built, but there are also two other possibilities. The other stories involve a dispute with his neighbor and the second as a gift to his two daughters. Whichever story is true, the scenario involving a man who built a home out of spite is the one that has made the Hollensbury Spite House a local landmark. It is one of four spite houses in Alexandria, the others being built in the 1800s as well.

The Lloyd House, also known as the Wise-Hooe-Lloyd House, is a historic house and library located at 220 North Washington Street at the corner of Queen Street in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. It was built from 1796 to 1797 by John Wise, a prominent entrepreneur, in the late eighteenth-century Georgian architectural style. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1976.

Robert H. Robinson Library was one of the earliest libraries for Colored People in the United States, during the Jim Crow laws era. Robert Robinson Library was located at 902 Wythe St., Alexandria, Virginia, and was operated since 1940 by the City of Alexandria.

The Alexandria Black History Museum, located at 902 Wythe St., Alexandria, Virginia, is operated by the City of Alexandria. The building was formerly the Robert Robinson Library, originally constructed in 1940 as the first "separate but equal" library for African Americans in the segregated city.

Meade Memorial Episcopal Church is a predominantly Black Episcopal Church in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1870, the church today is supported by a congregation that includes descendants of the original founders of this parish. Meade Memorial belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, whose members continue to serve the community and the Episcopal Church by participating in regional and Diocesan activities. The church building itself was moved in 1873 from the northern edge of Alexandria to the more centrally located Black neighborhood of Uptown. At this time it was designated a "colored Episcopal chapel".

Christ Church is an Episcopal church located at 118 North Washington Street, with an entrance at 141 North Columbus Street, in Alexandria, Virginia. Constructed as the main church in the Church of England's Fairfax Parish, the building was designed by Col. James Wren, a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren. To finance construction of the church, the Fairfax Vestry raised 31,186 pounds of Oronoco tobacco from parishioners. Construction began in 1765, under the direction of James Parsons. After four years, the church was still unfinished. The vestry relieved Parsons of his duties as overseer of the construction. John Carlyle accepted the position and handed the keys of the completed building over to the vestry in February 1773. Initially the pews were box pews and a two-tier pulpit was situated on the north side of the sanctuary. There was no font because until after the Civil War, weddings, baptisms, and the churching of women took place at home. In the mid-nineteenth century, stoves were put in the back of the church and the box pews were converted to the slips that are in use today. During a renovation later that century, the original pulpit was replaced by the current wine-glass pulpit. The only remaining hand-carved hymnal rack is in the Lee pew. The plaques on either side of the chancel were hand-lettered by Wren and have never been retouched. They display the Decalogue, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Golden Rule. Wren used ink and then varnished his work just as an artist varnishes a finished painting. Over time the carbon in the ink and the alcohol in the varnish formed an acetate that created the wonderful burnished patina of the plaques. If you look closely, you can see Wren's brushstrokes and one drip. George Washington, Henry Lee, Robert E. Lee, Charles Simms, Philip Marsteller, and Henry Fowler are a few of the church's notable parishioners (members). Until the twenty-first century, it was tradition for sitting presidents to attend a service. Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Eleanor Roosevelt visited the church on January 1, 1942 to commemorate World Day of Prayer for Peace. The church was known as Fairfax Church until given the name Christ Church in 1816. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.