Sterling Community Center Annex

 

[Update August 2023: This school has now been demolished. Check out Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 1]

   It's one of those few buildings you drive past and say, "that's looks interesting," but you keep driving by. This is the former Sterling Elementary School.

   This school opened in 1946. It bears a resemblance to the G.W. Carver School (Opened c. 1945-46, now the Carver Center), yet they aren't identical buildings.

   Until the mid-60's, this building and Ashburn Elementary School (now the Staff Training Center) took care of all the elementary students in the Ashburn/Sterling area of Loudoun.  Now there are about 12 elementary schools, each one bigger than both older schools combined. The currently-open Sterling Elementary School opened in 1964. The 1946 Sterling was still used as a school at least into the 1970's, but it was renamed Sterling Annex. I am not exactly sure when it finally closed. When it did, Loudoun County Public Schools used the building for storage.

   Two years after constructing Sterling Community Center in 1977, Sterling needed another building. There was not enough space and time at the one building for the amount of activity and people that visited the Center. The Sterling CC Advisory Board lobbied for use of the former Sterling ES. They were granted their wish. Loudoun County's Parks & Recreation Department signed a 5-year lease for its use in May 1981. After a large renovation, the former school building opened as the "Sterling Annex Community Center" on January 2, 1982.

   Sterling and Eastern Loudoun would keep growing. A 1992 manuscript on the history of Sterling's community centers noted that "Rapid residential development has begun to put a strain on the existing facilities." That growth would continue on for the next few decades.

   The 1992 manuscript also warned that "Development of Route 28 could affect the very existence of the Annex Facility." This also became true. For its whole life, Sterling had been a few buildings away from the Route 28-Church Road intersection. In 2005, as part of a Route 28 improvement project, a new huge interchange opened to drivers at that intersection. Sterling Community Center Annex was spared, but the road in front of the building was disconnected from the main line of traffic. Getting to the Annex was now more complicated.

   With the overpopulation and the lost connection at their Annex building, Parks & Rec decided to build a new, larger community center. As the new Claude Moore Community Center opened in 2007, the aging Sterling Community Center Annex closed its doors. County Staff recommended against reusing or renovating the building further. And so the building sat empty.

   The building is still its original size, never having received an addition. It's on a very small parcel of land. Other than the school and its gravel parking let, there is a baseball field and a playground.

   As I've said, this school location is not easy to navigate to due to the interchange. You have to pass by it, then turn down some back roads to reach it. (If you want to try to reach it, its address is 22084 Shaw Road, Sterling, VA 20164. Or, just aim for Belfort Furniture, it's right down the road)

Looking from the front entrance. The clover intersection is dead ahead.

   When I was originally thinking about this post a year ago, there was little information online on the school. Now, I can't even find those sources anymore.

The top of the flagpole has been cut off

Many plants are staking a claim to the building

The backside of the Auditorium!

Lovely Side Door

Shot from the side door. The school is basically one straight hallway.

   School buildings like Sterling and the first Arcola that have already been community centers scare me. Unless someone can find a new use for these old buildings, they will probably be demolished. Personally, I can see either school getting demo-ed for something else. Sterling doesn't have that much space on the property; bulldoze the school, get rid of the baseball field, and you have a sizable lot for a new building and parking lot. Arcola does have a lot of property that could be used, but it isn't close to many things, which could hurt re-use efforts. I can only hope for the best.

At least the grass still gets mowed.

Read all Sterling Annex Posts:
News on the Sterling Annex Building (2013)
Sterling Community Center Annex - 2016 Update
Sterling Community Center Annex - 2017 Update
Sterling Community Center Annex - 2018 Update
Sterling Community Center Annex - 2019 Update

Sterling Community Center Annex - 2020 Update

Sterling Community Center Annex - 2021 Update

Sterling Community Center Annex - 2022 Update

Sterling Community Center Annex - 2023 Update

Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 1

Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 2

Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 3

After Sterling Annex - 2024

[While this article was posted in 2012, all of the pictures were taken in 2011.]

[Updated 5/20/2016 with added information: from Fall 1992 Manuscript "History of Sterling Community Center and Sterling Community Center Annex" by Lynn G. Balanc, available at Balch Library; from VA State Route 28 Wikipedia, section on Improvement Projects; from Google Earth and it's Historic Imagery feature; testaments of two Sterling Annex alumni from the 60's & 70's, and from a Board of Supervisors Public Hearing Report from July 8, 2015]