We are looking at my selection of 12 top homes and buildings in Alexandria. Today is our third selection as we look at the Fitzgerald Warehouse.
Fitzgerald Warehouse
Southeast Corner of King and Union
Occupants: Starbucks, The Virginia Store, Offices
100-104 South Union Street
Year Built: c. 1795-1797
The Fitzgerald Building is an easy choice. You don't even have to know the history behind it, it's such a magnificent force with primo location.
The Alexandria website agrees, calling it, "one of the Alexandria Waterfront’s true historic treasures." John Fitzgerald, close friend and aide-de-camp of George Washington during the Revolutionary War, and Mayor of Alexandria, built the warehouse around 1795.
Diane Riker covers the early history in "The Fitzgerald Warehouse, The Early History of an Alexandria Landmark." Fitzgerald, who emigrated from Ireland in 1769, stored grain and tobacco here. The warehouse had three separate storage areas, now occupied by Starbucks, an office, and the Virginia Gift Store.
Alexandrians had special feelings for this "broad-shouldered Irishman." Everything you need to know about him can be summed up by saying he dined with Washington at Mount Vernon over 30 times. Fitzgerald served as a Colonel in the Continental Army, mayor of the city in 1787, and helped found St Mary’s Church.
Fitzgerald passed away in 1799 and is buried at the site of Warburton Manor (Fort Washington) beside his wife Jane Digges. Her father and Washington were close friends.
In Alexandria’s historic plan, they recommend several things as it relates to this warehouse, including renaming Wales Alley, Fitzgerald’s Alley, its original name, and erecting a figure of Fitzgerald.
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