This extensive frame town house in the Alexandria Historic District was erected in 1785 as the residence of Philip Richard Fendall, on property purchased from Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee, Fendall’s stepson-in-law. Fendall was a director of the Potomac Company and a founder of the Bank of Alexandria. He was married three times; all three of his wives were members of the Lee family. The Lee-Fendall House is the earliest of several neighboring Alexandria dwellings associated with the Lee family. It was remodeled in the Greek Revival style between 1850 and 1852, following its purchase by Louis A. Cazenove. Labor leader John L. Lewis, long the influential head of the United Mine Workers union, made his home here from 1937 until his death in 1969. Administered by the Virginia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Lee-Fendall House property is now a museum that interprets the history of everyone who lived and worked at the property from 1785 through 1969.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia