BY BILL FREEHLING

A 200-year-old Fredericksburg building whose history includes Union shelling during the Civil War and more than a century of selling furniture has been reborn as a popular restaurant and nightspot.

Capital Ale House opened at 917 Caroline St. on Monday, about four months after the start of a renovation project that cost about $1.2 million and exposed many original building features.

"It was just completely gutted," said Matt Simmons, president of Capital Ale and one of four partners in the business, which also includes three Richmond-area locations.

Chords restaurant and bar was the previous occupant of the 11,000-square-foot space. Local general contractor Abby Construction Co. took down a drop ceiling and drywall, and removed the surface that was glued to the pine floors. That revealed brick walls and wood ceiling beams. They varnished the pine floor to a shine.

Decor on the walls displays old Fredericksburg postcards. Two leather chairs surround a gas fireplace in the front. There are leather couches in the back, where customers can play darts and board games including chess, Scrabble and Monopoly. A 400-square-foot room in the back can be used for private parties.

The back part--which Capital Ale is calling the "Trappist" room--features stained-glass windows and natural light from the ceiling. Walls are painted peach, and cobalt-blue pendant lights hang over each table.

The front door and windows are temporary. Within a couple of weeks the restaurant will install a large oak door and accordion windows from Australia. There are two communal tables by the front windows and three more in the beer cellar. That encourages people to chat--which is also why Capital Ale has no televisions.

As the name suggests, the focal point is beer. There are about 60 beers on tap, and 300 bottled beers are kept chilled in alphabetical order behind the 80-foot-long bar. An ice strip runs along the top of the bar, giving customers a place to chill their beer. Two cask beers will be kept at 55 degrees in the 300-square-foot cellar on the bottom floor and drawn to upstairs taps with a hand pump.