Lloyd House (Alexandria, Virginia)

Lloyd House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Location	220 N. Washington St., Alexandria, Virginia
Coordinates
Area	less than one acre
Built	1796
Architectural style	Georgian
NRHP Reference #	76002222
VLR #	100-0090
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 12, 1976
Designated VLR	February 17, 1976

The Lloyd House is a historical building and library located at 220 North Washington Street in the Old Town of Alexandria, Virginia, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1976. The house was built by John Wise, a prominent entrepreneur in the early town, who constructed the building in the late eighteenth-century Georgian architectural style.

History

The Lloyd House was built in 1796–97 by John Wise. It was a high status building and President George Washington was a guest there on one occasion. In 1810, Wise sold the house to Jacob Hoffman, who would later become Mayor of Alexandria. In 1824, Hoffman sold the home to James Hooe for $13,000. After his death in 1826, his widow rented out the house to an educator, Benjamin Hallowell, who used the building as a schoolhouse. When Hooe's widow died in 1831, it was sold to John Lloyd. John Lloyd's wife was the cousin of Robert E. Lee, who had been taught at the school. The Lloyd family owned the property for over 100 years until the 1930s. During the 1940s and 1950s, it fell into ruin, and in 1956 proposals were made to gut the building; there were opposed by the Historic Alexandria Foundation. A businessman from Wyoming, Robert V. New, bought the house, saved it from being destroyed, and financed its major renovation. Fully restored, in 1968 Lloyd House was sold to the government of Alexandria.

Robert E. Lee who was taught at Lloyd House when it was a school in the 1820s.

Lloyd House currently serves as the administrative headquarters for the Office of Historic Alexandria, a department of the City of Alexandria government. The department is dedicated to the collection and preservation of historic sites, and since 1976 the building has also housed important historical and genealogical collections which are part of the Alexandria Library. Shelving space was tripled at Lloyd House in order to store the collection which has over 4,000 books.

Architecture

The Lloyd House is characteristic of the early post-colonial style in Virginia and is a fine example of Federal domestic architecture. It is a two-story rectangular brick building and has a five bay front on the Washington street side, four chimneys, and a gabled roof with three dormers. The central entrance doorway is made of solid wood, and is flanked by two Doric pilasters. When the house was extensively renovated in the early 1960s, the original 18th-century Flemish bond masonry on the exterior was damaged and repainted with Portland cement and the original interior pine boards were covered with hardwood flooring and painted.

Archives

Lloyd House has a complete collection of the Virginia census from 1790 to 1920 and related material and information on Virginia's county and city histories and genealogies. It also has African-American research materials such as the published Fairfax County and Alexandria Free Negro Registers, published records on births, obituaries, cemeteries, wills, deeds and marriage indexes, unpublished Alexandria church records, tax records, microfilm and a collection of over 9,000 Alexandria photographs and maps. Rooms of the house can also be rented for wedding receptions, conferences etc.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Alexandria, Virginia

External links

• Wise-Hooe-Lloyd House, 220 North Washington Street, Alexandria, Independent City, VA at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)