William Bayne, an Alexandria-based commission merchant, had the Bayne–Fowle House at 811 Prince Street built in 1854, and its masonry front now rises ahead of you. Bayne had purchased the lot in 1849, and a year after the house rose here it was sold in 1855 to William H. Fowle, another commission merchant and the son of a Massachusetts businessman. You can feel the layers of history in the brick and stone: the house is noted for its fine mid-Victorian interiors and its elaborate plasterwork.
During the American Civil War the house was occupied by Northern troops and subsequently by the Federal government; in 1864 it was even converted briefly into a military hospital while Fowle took refuge in Richmond. Life after that turbulent time eventually returned this building to private hands, and since 1871 it has served as a private residence. The house’s national recognition came later, when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986.
Picture the rooms behind that façade, then follow the masonry frontage upward and along Prince Street toward the plasterwork within.