Today’s building is in downtown Fairfax City, an independent city geographically within Fairfax County, Virginia. It sits at a major intersection of Main Street and another major area road, Chain Bridge Road, across from the city’s historic courthouse complex.

Here is the building. It is currently High Side, an upscale Taiwanese restaurant and beer bar. (The choice to go light on signage is interesting—you can almost miss that it’s actually a restaurant.) Previously, it was an Italian restaurant.

But it goes back to 1909, when it was built as the law office for local attorney and later state senator John W. Rust. Here’s an old digitized record that shows the property was still associated with Rust in the early 1960s. The position across from the courthouse makes sense given this history.

Here’s the side of the building, which is rather deep. There’s some room in the back with outdoor tables.

In classic towns like this, space feels much less linear than along suburban commercial strips. I love how there are often patios or parking lots behind and between buildings, rather than mostly just in front.

It’s also kind of remarkable just how adaptable buildings like this in classic towns are. They’re not specialized building types, really. This could be an office, a home, a restaurant, a gallery, etc.: pretty much anything that might be located in a small downtown. Nearly every building in such places has gone through a large number of different uses. Think about that, how natural it feels, and compare it to the modern approach to zoning that hinders the mixing of uses or even alterations in use over time.

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Mayberry Wasn’t a Subdivision

Living in the Motel

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