Ashland Lofts
Ashland Lofts | Schedule: Expected Delivery Summer 2028 | 310 S James St., Ashland, VA 23005 |
- Size: approx. 63,400 sq.ft. total
- Use: Apartments, parking
- Cost: approx. $9,500,720
- General Contractor: Zachoro LLC
- Architect: Ratio, P.C.
- Historic Tax Credit: Sadler & Whitehead
Proposal: The proposed Ashland Lofts is a redevelopment of a historic school located in the downtown area of the Town of Ashland, Virginia.
The Henry Clay Elementary School was constructed in 1934 and over its ninety-year life evolved into one of the most architecturally distinctive schools in Hanover County. The original Colonial Revival-style school was a linear building that contained thirteen classrooms, one of which served as the library, flanking a central corridor with four offices at the front entrance. Its later additions are what makes the school unique. The first addition in 1955 created a plan that was followed by all subsequent additions and resulted in three interior courtyards, with many of the corridors and classrooms having windows on a courtyard. This was the only school in the county that had this plan. The school closed at the end of the 2024 school year after a new elementary school was built in northern Ashland.
The Henry Clay Elementary School is a long and deep one-story brick building that was constructed in at least five building campaigns. The original nicely detailed Colonial-Revival- style school opened in 1934 and was designed by Luther P. Hartsook and Edward F. Sinnott, Sr. It consists of a projecting seven-bay, side-gable-roof central block with a three-bay front-gable- roof arcaded portico with arched openings highlighted by double rowlock courses. The side openings of the porch arcade have a decorative wrought-iron railing. The porch floor is concrete with concrete steps. The arcaded porch pays homage to the Hanover County courthouse that was constructed between 1737 and 1742 and features an arcaded front. The double-leaf central door with multiple lights above a raised panel has a five-light transom and a double-soldier-course surround. The windows in the central section are single nine-over-nine-light wooden-sash windows surmounted with brick jack arches with rowlock brick sills. The central block is detailed with brick quoins. A water table consists of a single row of raised brick laid in stretcher bond that continues on the flanking classroom sections. The classroom sections have a lower side-gable roof than the center block with ranks of five six-over-six-light wooden-sash windows for each classroom. The end blocks are emphasized by front-facing gable roofs.
There have been at least four major additions to the school over the years, creating a much larger building than appears from the front. The first addition in 1955 was designed by J. Henley Walker, Jr. of Richmond. The addition was located behind and parallel to the original building but did not connect with it. This addition had a north/south corridor with classrooms on the western side. A total of eight classrooms were added. One classroom was on the north side of the new cafeteria and kitchen wing while the rest were south of the cafeteria with one classroom on the eastern side of the corridor at the southern end. At the same time a large cafeteria, kitchen, and boiler room were built on the western side at the north end of the addition. New girls’ and boys’ restrooms were also added at the north end. This addition created a long rectangular courtyard between the original building and the 1955 addition with small openings at each end. The 1955 plans called for “future expansion” at each end of the original school that would connect it with the 1955 addition. The plans also indicated that temporary classrooms had been set up at the northern end where future expansion was designated. In 1968, these two flat-roof, brick-veneer wings were built at each end of the original school as indicated on the 1955 architectural drawings and connected the original school with the 1955 addition. These additions completely enclosed the courtyard.
The interior of the 1955 addition featured exposed and painted concrete-block walls in the corridors, classrooms, and cafeteria as well as tile floors and acoustical-tile ceilings. Both the long north/south corridor and the short corridors at the north and south ends had groups of triple-wooden-sash windows on the side facing what would become a courtyard. The almost square classrooms had a sink on one wall with a chalkboard on the opposite wall and windows across the rear wall. The windows on the window wall are columns of aluminum windows with five lights in each column.
The 1982 plans included improvements to the site as well as additions to the school. The architectural firm employed for these improvements was MacIlroy & Parris of Richmond. The site plan laid out the existing parking lot at the north end of the school and the bus driveway west of the parking lot at the north end of the cafeteria and kitchen wing. The site plan also indicated that an L-shaped maintenance building that stood at the north end of the cafeteria wing would be removed for the site improvements.
The 1982 improvements also included building a new library in the middle of the courtyard and reconfiguring the original center rear classroom to provide access to the new library. The new library was built between the original school and the 1955 addition, which created two smaller courtyards. The center rear classroom in the original school was subdivided into a storage room that also connected to the new library, a resource room, and a new corridor at the southern end of the classroom. This corridor extended across the southern end of the library to connect to the 1955 addition. The original girls’ restroom was also reconfigured to create a women’s restroom. The 1982 plans also proposed a covered walkway to connect the school with the War Memorial Building to the rear of the school, but it was not built until the 1986-1987 school year.
The 1998 alterations and renovations to the school brought a design approach to the final addition that differed from the original school and later additions that had continued to use Colonial Revival-style details and plan. The firm of Bond Comet Westmoreland + Hiner architects of Richmond designed a contemporary addition across the rear but continued the use of red brick to tie it back to the existing school. They also continued to site the addition back from the existing school to create a third courtyard. Like the 1955 and 1968 additions, it has a single-loaded corridor with classrooms on one side and two classrooms on each end that connect this addition to the existing building. Labeled the kindergarten addition, it contained seven kindergarten classrooms, an art lab, and a new rear entrance that became the primary entrance as the students were unloaded from the buses at the rear of the building off Hanover Avenue. The corner of each classroom angles out from the building and includes the only windows for each room. Like the earlier additions, the interior walls are painted concrete block, although there is exposed red brick at the classroom windows, and the art lab walls that face the corridors are also exposed red brick. The art lab is distinctly different from the other rooms of this newest addition. It has a soaring ceiling with exposed steel trusses, corrugated metal ceiling panels and large exposed HVAC ducts. This room also had windows that faced the corridor, and along with the courtyard windows created an open and airy feeling at the new rear entrance. This addition also added storefront windows across the rear of the cafeteria.
