Thursday, October 8, 2026

After Sterling Annex - 2026

Two parallel concrete paths cross a grassy field from left to right. The further path has a circular concrete plaza ringed by red bricks and a decorative grasses planter in the center. Beyond the field is a parking lot with cars and a gray square building.

So I didn't end up posting about the Sterling Annex site last year. I did stop by, but it hadn't changed since 2024, so no update was really necessary. In late 2025, work had finally started. When I stopped by in January 2026, the site had been fully cleared and concrete had been poured for the pocket park's paths.

Image of a construction zone. Concrete pathways are covered with black tarps. There are black knee-length fences encircling the area.
View from January 2026

Which now brings us to a few days ago, when I visited again and everything seems to be complete!

Where the baseball field once stood is the new Lindsay Detailing Facility building. The site of the Sterling Annex building is now part of the parking lot. The pocket park encompasses a small sliver of what used to be the front lawn. The pocket park is basically a path that runs through a narrow grassy area between the sidewalk and a retention basin. Along the way are two small circular plazas, ringed around with salvaged brick from the school. The smaller circle is approximately in line with where the school's front path was. The larger circle on the corner of the property features a recreated brick archway and a plaque going over the school's history.



A black plaque with gold lettering. It tries to cover the history of Sterling Annex coherently.

The plaque's sentence layout seem a little disorganized. I also don't know why it brings up that the building was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Any building technically becomes eligible once it turns 50 years old. However, no one applied for it to be listed, so it wasn't.

The park is a nice gesture. Okay, I think it's a little silly. The pocket park's path runs alongside the sidewalk. You can hop from one path to the other. The pocket park doesn't go to any destination the regular sidewalk doesn't also go to. However, the sidewalk also doesn't connect to anything off-property, so there's nowhere to go to or come from. 

Caution, the sidewalk is ending!

There's not much you can do with this plot that's low budget, low maintenance, and with an expected low attendance. It is a green strip next to a car detailing facility and a cloverleaf interchange. It's code compliance with environmental/historical concessions. I wish there had been a more inventive creation, but I get why it is what it is. 

A quick look at the Lindsay Detailing Facility:

A gray, square building surrounded by a parking lot. The building has a couple garage doors, otherwise it's pretty nondescript.

Overall, it is nice the history is being acknowledged. This area continues to change rapidly. What is considered "Old Sterling" is disappearing all the time. My camera's mostly been focused on the schoolhouse, but I'd like to take this moment to document the nearby hold-outs.

Two buildings in older architectural styles. They have signs on them that say "TART."
Tart Lumber

Looking over a parking lot, a faded advertisement for a heating and cooling business is along a wall on an adjacent utilitarian building.

Another vestige of Old Sterling has its own memorialization nearby. Some elements of the Old Sterling United Methodist Church were saved prior to its demolition and were integrated into a pocket park on its former site. The preservation group Save Old Sterling was instrumental in making this happen.

A small plaza with a bench and a sculpture using architectural elements from the Old Sterling United Methodist Church.

The other side of the Old Sterling United Methodist Church sculpture.

Also, not pictured but I want to shout-out Sterling Annex's predecessor, the Old Sterling Schoolhouse. Opened in 1880, it's still around on 1000 Ruritan Circle!


Thank you for joining me on this documentation journey. It's been 10 years since I started doing annual updates on the Sterling Community Center Annex. It's been a sad journey, but I enjoyed coming out here each year to see how things have changed. I'll always think of this school when I pass through this cloverleaf interchange.


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Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Call for Memorabilia: Banneker Elementary School

Hello there! Quick update. Banneker Elementary, one of the county's older schools (opened 1948) and the only segregated Black school that still operates as a school in the county, is going through a seismic renovation right now. I will cover its history and these current events in a later post. In the meantime, they have placed a call for historical items to help preserve the school and community's legacy. This includes photos, stories, artifacts, documents, and other ephemera, especially during the school's segregated period (1948-1968). I'm posting the two-page flyer below.

If you have any items and would like to help out, please contact bannekerrenovation@lcps.org or (571) 252-1161.


One page of flyer calling for memorabilia to celebrate Banneker Elementary's Heritage. Includes a picture of the school and historical photos of students.

The second page of the flyer calling for memorabilia to celebrate Banneker Elementary's Heritage. Gives further information, including lending options and more examples of items.

More information on the renovation can be found HERE. Details on the Lending Agreement can by found HERE.

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Sunday, April 5, 2026

Revisiting Leesburg High School / Senior Center (2026)

A photo of the front entrance of the Senior Center of Leesburg, a brick one-story structure. To the left and connected is the Library Administration wing entrance.

I recently swung by The Senior Center of Leesburg, the former Leesburg High School/Elementary School/North Street Administrative Office building. I had last visited when it had just opened up in its current iteration (2012), so it was nice to check it out again. Let's see how the building has been lived in and changed after 14 years, shall we?

An image of a square lobby with a wooden circular welcome desk. No one is sitting at the desk. There are some Caution Wet Floor signs around the lobby, along with mats over a wooden laminate floor.
Looking at the lobby from the front door

Lots of new things in the lobby. Most noticeably is the rounded plexi-glass shield left over from COVID safety accommodations. A member of staff told me that it was supposed to come down last year, but due to the supports being screwed into the counters themselves, no work has proceeded until new counters come in. Another change is the floor. Building-wide, the carpet has come out and been replaced by wood laminate.

Something I didn't mention last time, during the renovation, workers had found a hidden display case behind a wall, full of old trophies. They planned to display the trophies once the building opened, but they weren't out yet when I visited in 2012. It was nice to finally see them. It's crazy, some of them even pre-date the current 1925 building! I wonder how they survived the former building's fire? 

An image of a black, built-in display case. On the upper level are numerous shiny trophies and plaques. On the bottom level is a lot unrelated knick-knacks, overstuffed. with jewelry, bowls, holiday decor, office supplies, and whatnot.

An close-up image inside of two shelves inside the black trophy display case. The trophies are golden and shiny. Some are cups, some are plaques, some have golden models in athletic poses with balls and bats.

An image of a framed yellowing full-page newspaper article hanging on a wall. The article is titled "Leesburg School Closes Classroom Doors" from the Loudoun Times-Mirror, July 29, 1971.
Another lobby addition is a 1971 news article
on the school's closing.

Throughout the halls are artwork and pottery displays. You can even buy some of the creations made! (They should offer their creations during Leesburg's First Friday and reach a larger audience...)

An image looking down a white hallway with brown/black chair rails, doors, and chairs. On the wall on the right is a small display of paintings.

An image of a long glass shelving unit holding many different pottery pieces. The shelf is sitting against a white wall in the Senior Center of Leesburg.

I'm pretty sure I didn't take any photos of the fitness rooms in 2012 because the rooms were in use at the time. Luckily, this time I was visiting during a brief lull in activity, so that wasn't a problem. Fun fact: The fitness rooms are where the auditorium's stage used to be.

An image of an empty exersize room. A bar and mirrors goes across one wall. In the reflection, you can see chairs and other exersize equipment. The floor is covered with a gray marley dance floor..
The Group Exercise Room

An image of an empty fitness room with numerous exercise machines. The white walls are broken up by bulletin boards with exercise and muscle informational guides.
Fitness Room

An image of a room with two long row of tables with chairs. Cabinets and counters line one wall. There are paintings, sewing projects, and thread storage sorters on the counter.
Craft Room

An image of an empty lounge. Along one wall are built-in shelves with books and trophies. Along the perimeter of the room are green cushion chairs. In the middle of the room is a conference table with red office rollable chairs.
The Lounge

In the Ceramics Room, the preserved school chalkboard is buried behind supplies, shelves, and a newly-installed television. If you didn't know it was there, you might miss it.

Then:
An image of the ceramics room in 2012. The walls are empty and supplies are orderly. Along the back wall is a green chalkboard behind plexi-glass.
Ceramics Room, 2012

Now:
An image of the ceramics classroom in 2026, from the same perspective as in 2012. More supplies, shelves, and artwork cover the wall. The green chalkboard behind plexi-glass is covered by much of it, as well as some taped-on signs and a big screen television mounted to the wall. The TV has a Progressive Insurance ad playing.
Ceramics Room, 2026

That's not the only disappointing de-emphasizing of the building's history. The proscenium arch of the school's original auditorium has been painted white, camouflaging it into the wall. It is probably easier to repaint the wall this way. It's nice the arch is still there, but I hope it isn't forgotten about and taken down at some point.

Then:
An image of a large, decorative square arch in 2012. The arch is painted tan next to a white wall.
Proscenium Arch, 2012

Now:
An image of a large, decorative square arch in 2026. It is from the same perspective as the previous picture. The arch is painted white next to a white wall.
Proscenium Arch, 2026

In the multipurpose space/former auditorium, lots of changes here. The wallpaper and curtains are gone. The floor has been changed out, and its replacement has the lines marked out of what I'm guessing is probably a pickleball court. Disregarding the pickleball court, the space unfortunately has had some aesthetic downgrades. Still a functional space. 

*(My 2012 and 2026 pictures below were taken from opposite sides of the multipurpose room, unfortunately I don't have a good before/after photo of this space.)

Then:
A picture of the multipurpose room in 2012. There are tables set out. On the right are people dancing. The walls are yellow and curtains hang around the windows. The floor has four black squares, each with a sunburst motif inside them.
Multipurpose Room, 2012

Now:
A picture of the multipurpose room in 2026 (a different perspective than in 2012, sorry). The room is empty of people but still full of tables. The walls are white and the windows are unadorned, except for blinds. The floor has a wood laminate pattern, as well as lines making up some sort of sport court. I don't know sports, sorry.
Multipurpose Room (from the opposite side of the room), 2026

There was one surprise: The former school projector room! In the back of the multipurpose room is an exit with an antechamber with storage closets. In one of the storage closets is a ladder leading up to the projector space. It hasn't been repurposed for anything for the senior center, so it's stayed pretty much the same as it has for decades. A mini time capsule of sorts.

An image of a former projector booth. There are lots of pipes and wires sticking out the walls. An unknown piece of machinery sits in the center of the small space. On the left is a silver square of something covering the former projector hole. On the right wall is a large half-circle window, illuminating the space.
Projector Booth

This space gets a whole lot of light through its window. I'm very curious about the architectural story behind this. Was the window here before the space was allocated as a projector booth? Was it always a projector booth, and they gave it a window anyway? At some point, the window was covered, most likely to solve the light problem for projectionists. During the senior center conversion, the window was uncovered again. No projection booth, no problem!

An image of the exterior of the former Auditorium in 2012. It is a brick building with rectangular windows and exterior molding. There is a half-circle window above the entry doors.
Reference photo: Auditorium Exterior Door & Window, 2012

A picture looking up at the projector room openings from inside the booth, 2010. Some plaster is off of the bricks around the openings. There are disconnected wires exposed. In the room beyond, you can see the wooden roof support structure.
Projector openings, 2010

A picture looking up at the projector room openings from inside the booth, 2026. Same perspective as the previous photo. Shiny silver material now covers the projector holes and most of the exposed brickwork. There are now new pipes and wires sticking into the wall, along with some of the disconnected ones that were there previously.
The covered projector openings, 2026


One final change. Last time, a lady told me "You don't look like you're fifty-five!" This time, no one told me that. No one told me I looked fifty-five either, but still. I'm noting my presence here is not as much a juxtaposition as it once was. Still got over two decades before I can enroll in membership, but my youth is clearly fleeting before my eyes!!


The Senior Center of Leesburg appears to be thriving. It has had upgrades and changes to keep up with the times and maintenance. Some of the history is de-emphasized, but it's all still there! All-in-all, a great building that has many more decades of use left!




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Monday, February 16, 2026

Repost: Dr. Hatrick's Salvation South Interview

Hi, hello there! I haven't posted here in a while, and am currently working on some things/thinking about working on some things. In the meantime, I would like to share a recent interview former LCPS Superintendent Dr. Ed Hatrick did with Salvation South. Enjoy!

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