Showing posts with label Arcola Elementary School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arcola Elementary School. Show all posts

Monday, August 19, 2024

Arcola School - 2024 Update

An image of the 1939 Arcola School at an angle. Sunshine is hitting the front of the one-story brick building with white trim. There are concrete stairs and a ramp going down from the elevated entrance. A bench sits to the right of the stairs on a concrete pad. A series of black wires reach out towards technological equipment on the building.

Where we last left the 1939 Arcola School in 2022, Loudoun's Board of Supervisors had voted to transfer the building and site over to Capretti Land Inc. contingent on a couple factors. Since then, the Board of Supervisors reviewed Capretti's rezoning application for the land in October 2023 and voted to approve it! Huzzah! As of now, the building is still owned by the County, so there are probably some other processes everyone is working through, but this is a great step towards the building's adaptive reuse.

Out of the board room, the school's condition is ... perhaps slightly better? Things I've noted here in previous posts have been addressed around the property. We love signs of continued maintenance! Let's take a look around...

Most of the spots where there were paint flaking have been repainted white, including the trim and front doors. It makes the façade look really sharp and less abandoned!

An image of the 1939 Arcola School, a one-story brick building with white trim. All the windows are boarded up. The grass on either side of the path leading to the school is mown.
Grass is mown, and other plants have been cut down around the building

An image looking above the main entrance of the 1939 Arcola School. It is a one-story brick building with a gable end above the entrance. The wooden colonial revival pediment and supports frame the door. Above the pediment is a white circle with four keystones on the top, sides, and bottom.
Above the main entrance

Places where I had seen wood rot have been addressed. I'm not sure if the wood was replaced or covered over. Is this a band-aid fix until major renovation can occur? Either way, it looks so much better than it did two years ago.

An image looking up at the white trim molding on a corner of the brick 1939 Arcola School building. There is a white rain gutter, downpipe, and a couple miscellaneous wires around the corner.

An image of a side of the 1939 Arcola School, a one story brick building with white trim. There is one elevated entrance (doors boarded up) with stairs to the ground, and one window to the left of the doors. On the side borders are brick quoins.
Short end of the building

A detail image of a school bell of the 1939 Arcola School. It is painted white to match the trim it is against. Below it is the red brick of the school, along with a vertical series of brick quoins. I like the word quoins.
Old school bell

The backside of the building continues to be main target for vandalism and possible break-ins.

An image of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Windows are boarded up. The boards on the window closest to the left is fresh yellow-brown (newly placed), while most of the others are a faded brown. There are white blocks of paint on some of the boards. The ground is grassy around the school, then fades to a gray gravel parking lot.

An image of another section of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Most of the windows are boarded, but there is a square that is missing off the top of one. There is glass and wood surrounding the spot.
Recent window vandalism

An image of the 1939 Arcola outdoor stairs down into the basement. There is a black railing, a couple vine plants growing, and some miscellaneous trash.
Stairs to the basement

An image of an overhang structure above doors into the 1939 Arcola School auditorium. The doors are blocked off by a metal gate. The overhang is bordered by metal, but its underside is composed of white-painted wood that is rotting/falling down.
Deteriorating wood under an overhang into the auditorium

An image of another section of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Next to the brick building, there is asphalt, a couple vine plants growing, the broken remains of a chain-link fence, and a couple wooden boards in a pile.
The shed I looked at two years ago is now gone

An image of a lightbulb hanging downward at the 1939 Arcola School. The metal arm that is holding it is sticking out from the side of the school.
Light bulb

An image of concrete, bordered by grass. In the concrete, there is some writing that was carved into it when it was freshly poured. It looks to say "D Furr, C McInto, D Harris, 11-11-02."
Some names scrawled into the concrete

In previous years, I had noted there was a whole fenced-off area on one side of the building that was severely overgrown. It's now all cut down! Sure, it's not much to look at, but it's better than it was!

An image peering over a fence along one side of the 1939 Arcola School. There is grass, dirt, and a hilly mound in the fenced-off area. On the brick school are more windows and a set of double doors, all boarded up, as well as stairs from the door to the ground.


The grounds' amenities continue to be limited, but in most cases, that's probably for the best while the site prepares for its future.

An image of a metal baseball backstop, metal bleachers, a water fountain with a pebble aggregate concrete base. Beyond the backstop is a grassy field, and then trees. One tree is next to the bleachers.
Baseball field with a grassy diamond

An image of a fenced off area full of short green vegetation. In the back are trees with green leaves. On the chain-link fence is a blue sign that says "Playground Closed."
The playground's play structures have all been removed now.

An image of two empty basketball courts next to each other. There are four metal basketball backboards, three of which have glassy backboards. The fourth is missing. There are no basketball hoops.
All the basketball hoops are gone

An image looking through the chain-link fence surrounding a tennis court. There are large cracks in the court, with tall weedy vegetation growing up through them.
The tennis courts are cracked and weedy

An image of a square wooden pavilion with a gable roof. There are five wooden picnic benches under the pavilion. Grass and trees surround the pavilion, while moss grows on the roof's wooden shingles.
The field pavilion is in pretty good shape

An image of a grassy field, bordered by trees.
The field



Well! After my last couple check-ins at the Sterling Annex building, it's nice to see maintenance and upkeep happening in a positive direction. Arcola's future looks bright, and hopefully its hardest struggle is behind it.


An angled image of the front of the 1939 Arcola School. In the foreground stretches the accessibility ramp from the front entrance. All the windows on the one-story brick building are boarded up.



SOURCES:
Email Correspondence with Capretti Land, Inc - June 2024

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Thursday, March 10, 2022

Arcola School - 2022 Update

Arcola School, 2022

I took off posting about the 1939 Arcola School last year because there hadn't seemed like much of a change from 2017 to 2019, and there hadn't been any news. Well, there is news now!

Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to transfer the building and its land to Capretti Land Inc. Capretti plans to develop the land and adjacent parcels into 300 housing units, at least 74 of those being affordable housing. The transfer is contingent on Capretti filing and getting approval for the properties' rezoning, as well as securing financing for the affordable housing. If these two things don't happen within the next two years, the school property will go back to Loudoun County.

Capretti's current plans call for the Arcola School to be renovated and house 10 of the affordable housing units and one community room. The property would also feature "public recreational and parking facilities, a public recycling facility and two bus stops."

This project has a couple more things going for it than Windy Hill Foundation's 2016 proposal did. Capretti's project also includes the project across the street, while Windy Hill only involved the Acola property. There's also the fact that the county's noise zones are currently changing. Based on a new noise study, Arcola's property will no longer be in Dulles Airport's noise zone.

It all sounds pretty good. I'm typically against new housing in Loudoun County. (I thought there was too much housing building when I was in elementary school! And yet it keeps happeningggggg) But if development has to occur, it's nice to see old buildings being preserved and incorporated into the plans. There can be a balance between a community's past character and the enhancements the present can bring.


So, that's the news and my two cents on it. Let's look around the property!

Front of Arcola School

Front Door Handle Detail

There does seem to be a lot more paint chipping, which is sad to see. It's looking a little ragged.

Light above the front door

Flagpole and eaves

The backside of the school

I discovered there are stairs leading down to a basement. Probably never noticed them before because I usually go in the summertime, when there is full vegetation. Unlike Sterling's annex school, the drainage here appears to still be working and is not flooded.

Stairs to basement space

Some boards over windows have come off, allowing my first peek into the building since 2011. It appears people have been able to break in and vandalize the space. 

From the front door, 2022

From 2011, the same view

View into one classroom from a partially boarded-up window

A broken window, covered up

Looking around the rest of the property...


There are two deteriorating wooden sheds along the back of the building. One was open, revealing field equipment and an old concessions sign.


"Welcome to Arcola's Holiday Craft Bazar
Sponsored by Arcola Community Center Advisory Board
& Loudoun County Parks & Recreation"

The field still looks good and usable.

Arcola Field

The basketball court is clean, but there are no nets anymore.

Arcola Basketball Court

One of the playground structures has been removed.

Arcola Playground

There is also some security presence. There is one security camera set up by the County Recycling Drop-off. Hopefully, this will deter anyone from vandalizing the front of the building.

Solar-powered security camera


Well. Glad I stopped by, glad there is exciting potential plans, glad Arcola still stands. Till next time!
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Arcola School - 2019 Update

The 1939 Arcola School - 2019.

Along with visiting the Sterling Annex School recently, I checked up on the 1939 Arcola School. There hasn't been any news articles about since the last time I checked on it. Everything seems to remain in fairly good condition.

The grass is still mown regularly. Most of the eaves look to be in very good condition. There are some sections that have wood rot (caused from a now-removed gutter downspout) and flaking paint. Just a couple of signs of decay. The roof looks fine. All the windows are covered and the school is locked up tight from intruders or Mother Nature.

Front of Arcola School

Looking to the right of the entrance. 

There is only one area that visually reflects its abandonment -- the northern side. A fenced-off area is full of overgrown plants. Ivy climbs along the building's eave. Other than the fence being there, I don't understand why this area has been allowed to grow like this. [This area was also present when I visited in 2017].

Arcola School along its northern side.

Behind the school, the grounds' conditions range from excellent to needs some work.

Grass is starting to grow in the cracks in the pavement at the tennis court. Still usable though.

Arcola Tennis Court

The basketball court has a pile of mulch sitting on one half of the asphalt. It would be fun to shoot baskets from the top of it.

Arcola Basketball Court

 The playground is starting to get grassy. Still could play on it.

Arcola Playground

The baseball field - excellent condition. It looks regularly taken care of and used. Batter up!

Arcola Baseball Field

There was also a wooden pavilion and soccer field. The pavilion looked surrounded by high grass-- might rethink planning a picnic there. Soccer field looked alright, nothing too memorable to photograph though.


Read other Arcola School Posts:
The Three Schools of Arcola (2011)
Arcola School - 2017 Update
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Monday, June 5, 2017

Arcola School - 2017 Update

Arcola Elementary School (1939) in 2017

On the way to a wedding-eve rehearsal for one of my dear friends, I drove through the community of Arcola. Spying the backside of the 1970's Arcola Elementary School from the road, it reminded me that I hadn't visited its predecessor in a while. So I made a detour on my way home to the 1939 Arcola Elementary School.

Although Arcola is still vacant and its future still uncertain, its situation is a lot better. In 2013, with permission and support from Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors, the school became listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is the third school in Loudoun to receive its own listing, the other two being the 1940 Douglass School in Leesburg and the 1913 Lucketts School in Lucketts. These things aren't handed out willy-nilly around here! (Some other schools are a part of Register-recognized Historic Districts) (Loudoun has 87 listings in total currently) (Anyway, I digress)

The Board again discussed in 2014 what to do with the school, and the community rallied the Board against considering a demolition option. For the next two years, the Board looked for a private-public partnership to reuse the school. The Windy Hill Foundation proposed converting the building into affordable living apartments. While the plan had a lot of community support, the Board axed the plan. The property sits close to Dulles Airport's runways and is in a future runway flight plan, so the Board has avoided putting residential properties in this area due to noise. Other factors, such as the Foundation's finances for the project, changing the property's zoning, how much of the school building would be preserved, and the increased residential density the project would create led the Board to reject the plan. So Arcola is still empty, but safe for now.

Arcola is still owned by Loudoun County Government, used as overflow storage for County General Services Administration.

Arcola Elementary School (1939) in 2017

I had a little trouble finding the school. Its address is officially listed at 24244 Gum Spring Road. The school is more accurately on Stone Springs Boulevard, disconnected from Gum Spring Road to the south. I believe I ran into this exact problem in 2011. There's a lot of development happening in the area, so I wouldn't find it hard to imagine the Boulevard was part of the Road in the past, but then construction necessitated that they split up.

Official address at Arcola. Google swears it's spelled "Gum
Spring," this sign is the only place that says "Gumsprings"

The school's windows have been boarded up since I last visited. With the grass cut and the working lights around the grounds, the property feels very secure and taken care of.

View from Arcola's front doors

Backside of Arcola (1939) in 2017

The fields and playground out back look like they are still available for use. The basketball court had a pile of dirt on its surface, I don't know what was going on there.

Baseball field behind Arcola School

Arcola has weathered its vacancy well on the exterior. The roof appears fine. There's a light amount of paint flaking off. I only found one rotting wood location:

Wood rot

Arcola's Colonial Revival architectural details

With similar timelines, it's interesting to watch Arcola and Sterling Annex's stories unfold. Both former schools, both former community centers, and now both vacant. Both schools were rated as not worth renovating by county inspectors, yet still remain with everyone scratching their heads as to what to do with them.

If I had to choose which one I thought would survive (if one does)... While I think Sterling is slightly more attractive and is located in a more economically-viable area (relatively), I think Arcola will remain. Its listing on the National Register of Historic Places is definitely a plus. Sterling could also seek nomination to be on the Register, but no one has stepped up. And there is the key difference between the schools: active community support. For years now, Arcola School supporters have rallied for its survival. This support is mentioned in many newspaper articles and in the school's Register write-up. I haven't read about that same kind of support in articles about Sterling. Arcola will survive because its community mandates that it will.

I typically look at Loudoun's motto "I Byde My Time" as a bad one, an acknowledgement that change/progress will take longer than expected here. In these instances, more time might be all these schools need to find their next use. As always, I wish both of them luck.


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