LCHS: Columns

   Who doesn't love Loudoun County High School's stately Georgian look? Probably Vikings, but that's besides the point.

   Today, I want to talk about County's columns. Which do you think came first, the columns or the roof? I found the answer looking through microfilm. 

Loudoun Times Mirror September 16, 1954

   Pictured above is a comic, showing a column-less County on its first day of school. The roof was supported by a wooden scaffolding until the columns were constructed.

   LCHS opened -- unfinished. "Classrooms enough to begin operating will be finished and furnished, but yet to come will be the auditorium, gymnasium and cafeteria." (LTM 9/9/1954). Another article described how the front entrance was closed and students were told to enter through the sides.

   To compare with today, Tuscarora and Woodgrove High Schools wrapped up all of their construction and were open to their staff a month before school opened up in September. Although, to be fair, they began construction 2 years before the school was set to open and LCPS now has a Construction Department that meticulously plans when everything will go up. LCHS started construction approximately a year before it opened.

LCHS Aerial, 1954. What Front Lawn and columns do you speak of?

   Above is an aerial photograph confirming a column-less LCHS during construction.

Loudoun Times Mirror November 11, 1954

   This picture was another discovery. The blueprints I had seen clearly said "Stuccoed brick columns," but it didn't mean anything to me until I saw this picture. This is the only picture I have seen before the columns were stuccoed.

   By the school's dedication in February 1955, the columns were stuccoed and gleaming white, as they continue to be today.

So, to answer the question, the roof came before the column. 


To wrap up, some fun facts:

• The columns stand a little over 24' tall.
• The bases and caps of the columns are limestone and the steps are granite. 
• There are 8 columns. 6 are circular and freestanding; 2 are square and attached to the main building.

Sources:

Loudoun Times Mirror articles (up for viewing at Balch Library)

LCPS Construction blueprints