3. RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL WING OF THE COURTHOUSE, 1967
Origin of the Restoration Project. After the second addition to the courthouse was completed in 1954, the old courtroom in the original wing of the building ceased to be the focal point of the court's activity. Similarly, it ceased to receive the attention needed to deal with the natural deterioration produced by use and the passage of time. By the early 1960's these effects were evidenced by leaking roofs, unreliable plumbing in the heating system, cracked and crumbling plaster, loosened floors and hardware, and the like. In order to retain its usefulness, the original wing of the courthouse needed substantial renovation.
At this time, an interest in the old courtroom was expressed by the Fairfax County Bar Association and the county's newly formed Historical Landmarks Preservation Commission which together proposed that the work of renovation be done in such a way as to restore the original appearance of the courtroom. The Bar Association formed a Special Committee for Restoration of the Old Court Room under the chairmanship of C. Douglas Adams, Jr., and the assistance of the Board of Supervisors was sought.[161]
In December 1964, the Board appropriated funds for developing a restoration plan. Walter Macomber, a local restoration architect who had done similar work on a number of early Virginia landmarks, was retained to prepare the necessary plans. In March 1966, the Bar Association's Committee reported the completion of this preliminary work to the Board, and successfully secured the latter's approval together with an appropriation of $90,000 for actual construction work. This work was commenced without further delay and was completed in the spring of 1967.[162]
Problems of the Restoration. While the work undertaken in 1965 and 1966 was at the time referred to as a restoration, it was in fact impossible under the circumstances to reproduce with complete accuracy the appearance of the courthouse in 1800. No descriptions of the courtroom or other records of building specifications had been found; nor was any special research in eighteenth century sources undertaken for this purpose. As a result, the work produced a courtroom with idealized colonial-period interior design and furnishings in a building shell with reconstructed floor plan and structural design of the early Federal-period (during which it had initially been built). Numerous difficult problems were faced in this reconstruction, and, for the most part, they were resolved in ways that served primarily to create a room with the atmosphere of Virginia's colonial period, and secondarily to build an authentic replica of the Fairfax courthouse as of any particular historical date.
An initial problem connected with the exterior alterations was that of securing bricks and mortar to match those of the original courthouse. Bricks secured from a manufacturer of specialty bricks turned out to be a close match for the originals which were thought to have been fired from clay dug in Fairfax County.[164] Specially mixed mortar made from sand, lime and white cement also closely simulated the color and texture of the older mortar. Bricks were laid in Flemish bond which matched the courthouse and part of the old jail building.
Using these new materials, broken and crumbling bricks were replaced throughout the building, and the three long windows on both the north and south sides of the courthouse were altered to form two rows of smaller windows, with the space between the first and second-floor rows filled with new brickwork. This change in the fenestration restored the building to its appearance as shown in Civil War photographs of the courthouse. Shutters similar to those shown in the same pictures were added to the windows on both floors.