You are standing before the Lyceum, a historic museum and event space in Alexandria, Virginia. Built in 1839 on the initiative of Quaker schoolmaster Benjamin Hallowell, this brick Greek Revival building was constructed from bricks recycled from the original St. Mary chapel and intended as a permanent home for scholarly activities. It hosted the Alexandria Lyceum — speakers included John Quincy Adams — and the Alexandria Library.
During the American Civil War it served as a hospital. After the war the Lyceum was dissolved and John Bathurst Daingerfield bought the building for his daughter Mary Helen and her husband, Philip Hooe, a descendant of the town's first mayor, merchant Robert Townshend Hooe. The building later served as an office building, and virtually none of the original woodwork remains.
During the New Deal it was recognized by the Historic American Buildings Survey. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 27, 1969, the year of its purchase by the city. Take a moment to let the recycled bricks, the Greek Revival style and the layered history sink in, and then turn your eyes north toward the spot about four blocks away where a 1937 building was constructed on the former Quaker graveyard to house the city's growing library.