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| Sterling Annex, 2018 |
[Update August 2023: This school has now been demolished. Check out Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 1]
It's 2018, time for my annual check-in to the Sterling Community Center Annex! There are signs the building still receives maintenance. There are also signs the building continues to be vandalized and decay. We are going to look at all of it. Let's go!
In the past year, all of the windows have been boarded up. The building looks a lot more secure than it did a year ago. The windows aren't entirely covered, however, the boards don't reach the windows' full height. The goal of boarding the building up seems to be to keep people out. This current setup allows for weather and small wall-crawling animals to still get into the building, so the building is still not entirely damage-proof.
One of the boards covering one of the front doors is not nailed on one side, so you can reach through the door's broken windows if you so chose to. I wouldn't, there's broken glass around the edges.
The biggest news is one of the columns is no longer attached to the building and is laying on the front steps. Did it fall naturally, or was it vandalism? Luckily, it is still in one piece, so it could be put back up or stored inside for safe keeping.
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| The front door of Sterling Annex, with the fallen column |
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The backside of the column and a water downspout. Based on
the supports in the column, the downspout was not hiding
inside the column. |
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| Some cursive inside the column, most likely from the builder. |
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| Inside the column capital, still on the facade. |
On the back of the school, the sides of the auditorium vary in plant overgrowth.
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| South-west side of the back of the building |
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| South-east side of the back of the building |
The basement stairs are still flooded. We have had a lot of rain recently, but this looks like the water level is in the same spot it was last year. Gross.
My favorite door, finally all boarded up, also has more of the gutter coming down:
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| Roof tiles are scattered everywhere. |
Some miscellaneous/noteworthy vandalism around the outside:
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| Dents in the brick |
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| Deep thoughts on the auditorium back door |
Something I have mostly overlooked writing about thus far is the playground. There had been a playground on the site from the building's community center daus. Last year, I snapped a picture of it, still there. It's grounds had been completely taken over by grass.
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| Sterling Annex Playground, 2017 |
This past year, it was finally taken away.
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| Site of Sterling Annex Playground, 2018 |
Its removal was probably for the best. With broken glass and who knows what else, it's not a safe area for children to visit. Playgrounds can also be used as meeting places for older groups. Getting rid of it took away that space.
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| Plenty of planes pass overhead, Dulles Airport is nearby |
There has been no recent news about any plans for the Annex building. I have reached out to Belfort Furniture on two separate occasions this past year to try to learn what they plan to do with the building. At the time of this posting, there has been no response to either.
Sterling Community Center Annex continues to be in a state of limbo. Nothing is happening with it, yet it is still here. Every year I am more sad to walk by, but I cannot look away.
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| Sterling Annex, 2018 |
