Along with the other public buildings at the courthouse compound, the jail suffered during the years of war from 1861 to 1865. When civil government ceased to function at the courthouse, competing groups that claimed civil authority in Fairfax County used jail facilities in neighboring Alexandria and Leesburg when the need arose. During the latter years of the war, when Union troops occupied the courthouse, the jail offered its facilities as a storehouse as well as a place of detention for military prisoners. But the Army of the Potomac had little time or incentive to keep the jail in good repair, and so, like the courthouse, it suffered extensively from the war. During the 1870's, repairs and construction of additions to the original building restored the jail to service. The 1879 G. M. Hopkins _Atlas_ showing the courthouse complex depicts the jail as being larger than the courthouse in size. In 1884, fire destroyed this building, and arrangements had to be made to use the Alexandria city jail until a proper new jail could be constructed for the county.[133] The new jail was located directly behind (west of) the courthouse, facing onto the Little River Turnpike. Its materials and construction indicate that the original portion was added to on two later occasions. When finally completed, the jail was a two-story T-shaped brick building, with a one-story wooden porch across the full length of the front. In the original section (facing onto the turnpike) the windows have plain wooden pediments. The cornice and chimney tops are corbelled, and there are iron cresting and finials on the ridge of the hipped roof. In the second section, which forms part of the stem of the "T," there are segmental arches over the windows and an ornamental cornice consisting of a course of bricks laid vertically. In the third section, which completes the stem of the "T," the brickwork is laid in Flemish bond (matching the courthouse brickwork in contrast to the common bond of the rest of the jail), and the windows are topped with flat arches. The second and third parts of the building are covered with a gable roof.[134] In this new jail building, the jailor had living quarters in the front portion, and until 1948 these were used as his residence. The building itself ceased to be used for detention of prisoners shortly after that time, for when the addition to the courthouse was completed in 1956, jail facilities were incorporated into this addition. Since 1956, the old jail building has been used for offices of various county agencies, including the juvenile court and probation office, civil defense office, fire board, police dispatcher, and recreation department.[135]