Workhouse Arts Center

District of Columbia Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District
Location 9518 Workhouse Rd, Lorton, VA 22079
Coordinates 38°41'53.1"N 77°15'17.2"W
Area 511.32 acres
Built 1910
Architect Snowden Ashford, Albert Harris
Architectural style Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Beaux Arts; Colonial Revival. Late 19th and early 20th Century American Movements: Bungalow/Craftsman.
NRHP reference # 06000052
Added to NRHP February 16, 2006

Coordinates: 38°41′53.1″N 77°15′17.2″W / 38.698083°N 77.254778°W / 38.698083; -77.254778

The Workhouse Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides visual and performing arts studio and exhibition space as well as arts education programs. The Workhouse is located in Lorton, Virginia, situated on 55 acres (220,000 m2) of land in the Occoquan Workhouse portion of the historic D.C. Department of Corrections Lorton Reformatory.

The Workhouse houses over 100 professional and emerging artists as well as cooperative studios, performance and theatre venues, a main gallery building, as well as gallery space in each studio and event facilities.[1]

History

In 2002, 2,324 acres of the Lorton Reformatory were sold to Fairfax County, Virginia for $4.2 million after the correctional facility closed in 2001. Because of the site's prime location next to the Occoquan River and major highways, a comprehensive adaptive re-use study was completed. In 2002 the Lorton Arts Foundation, Inc. proposed a plan to transform the former prison facility into a cultural arts center. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of a 55-acre portion of the former correctional facility to become the Workhouse Arts Center in July, 2004. After several years of planning, adaptive reuse, and rehabilitation of the historic buildings, the Workhouse Arts Center opened to the public in September, 2008.

References

  1. ↑ About Workhouse http://www.workhousearts.org/about/press/
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