The Athenaeum is a stout, Doric-porticoed structure described in 1851 in the Alexandria Gazette as “of the Grecian order of architecture, plain in its exterior and of ample accommodations for the business of the bank.” Following its life as a bank, the building served as a warehouse and a church. It became an arts center in 1925 and was named the Athenaeum in 1964. The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association now owns it. Nothing of the original interior decoration remains.