Workhouse Arts Center

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.

District of Columbia Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District
Location9518 Workhouse Rd, Lorton, VA 22079
Coordinates38°41'53.1"N 77°15'17.2"W
Area511.32 acres
Built1910
ArchitectSnowden Ashford, Albert Harris
Architectural styleLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Beaux Arts; Colonial Revival. Late 19th and early 20th Century American Movements: Bungalow/Craftsman.
NRHP reference No.06000052
Added to NRHPFebruary 16, 2006

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] The Workhouse also houses a museum that covers the Workhouse from the reformatory to the arts center.

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.[2]

Lucy Burns Museum

Because of her involvement as a leader of women's suffrage and being a member of the Silent Sentinels that resulted in several arrests including the "Night of Terror" (November 15, 1917), Burn's memory was honored with the Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Center.[3][4][5][6][7]

References
  1. About Workhouse http://www.workhousearts.org/about/press/
  2. "Workhouse Offers Showcase for the Arts". www.connectionnewspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  3. Noe Kennedy, Barbara (February 20, 2018). "New Virginia museum will honor the sacrifices of suffragists". Lonely Planet.
  4. Hamm, Catherine (November 12, 2017). "In 1917, the 'Night of Terror' at a Virginia prison changed history. Now it's a site of beauty". Los Angeles Times.
  5. "Museum At Old Lorton Prison Will Honor Women's Suffrage Movement". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  6. "New Virginia Museum Will Honor Women's Suffrage Movement". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  7. Times, Angela Woolsey/Fairfax County. "Voting rights national memorial breaks ground". Fairfax County Times. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
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