THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA ARCHIVES AND RECORDS CENTER
Built and put into operation in the mid-1950s, the City of Alexandria Archives and Records Center building was originally an incinerator. It was in use until 1975, then later renovated throughout the 1980s so that a print shop and the Archives could move in in 1983.
THE INCINERATOR
Irony lies in the first and most current usage of this building, as floors now used for the storage of archival records were once stoking and ash floors. The building retains much of its original features as well as cosmetic elements that serve no practical purpose. On the exterior of the building above the loading dock, there is an ornamental Juliet balcony. Atop the roof there is a cupola—perhaps when the building still functioned as an incinerator it was used to expel heat, but now it is purely decorative.
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East, South, West, and North Elevation and Cross Sections of the “Refuse Incinerating Plant,” June 1954
City of Alexandria Archives and Records Center
REUSE AND REPURPOSE
The Archives current location is the result of the reactivation of the Historical Records Advisory Commission and the launch of the City of Alexandria’s Records Management Program.
In a Memorandum to the Commission, Jill Weitzen states that the responsibilities of the Commission—
“… as designated by the City Council, are to advise the City of those records which have historical value and to provide guidance as to the proper indexing, preservation, display, and/or storage of those records.”
The goal with their relaunch in 1975 was to catalogue all of the City’s records as well as prepare maintenance and disposal schedules for each group of records within 12 to 18 months.
Actions related to their relaunch occurred at the recessed meeting of March 25, 1975, wherein the Council considered an item concerning the creation of a special historical archives for City Records. Later that same year in April, it was recommended that the position of City Archivist be created. Instead, from 1975 to 1976, a Budget and Management Analyst in the Office of Management and Budget carried out the part-time duties of a records manager.
Nothing truly came to fruition until 1981, when the concept of a comprehensive Records Management Program was revitalized by a presentation to the City Council from Dr. James Rhoads, former Archivist of the United States and Chairman of the Historical Records Advisory Commission. He was thus selected by the City as a consultant, leading to the official launch of the Program in November 1981. Their slogan was “Do More With Less Paper,” and they intended to provide “the City with efficient cost-effective control and management of its information resources.”
Through this, the position of City Records Manager was established and steps were taken to create a Records Center for the City. According to a status report in January 1982, the South Payne Street Incinerator was chosen as the location. Before any City records could be moved here, it was necessary to add shelving and a sprinkler system. Once fully operational, the space would also be used for older and more valuable archival records.
“The effective management of the City's inactive records is dependent upon the availability and completion of the new records center at the So. Payne St. Facility. This temperature, and humidity controlled, fire retardant resource, when fully fitted out, and operational by early summer, will materially contribute to achieving program goals.”
—Douglas Harman, former City Manager.
THE PRINT SHOP AND ARCHIVES
In a press release in April 1982, the writer summarizes the unique nature of the building, which reflects as it stands now.
The Center is one of the City’s more innovative adaptive reuses of old buildings. The building was constructed originally as the City’s refuse incinerator, and it was distinctive with its traditional colonial features. When the building is reactivated this June, it will serve as a modern City facility for printing, storage, receiving, and records storage. A Fire Department facility will share the site and provide realistic fire training on a building designed for fire and smoke simulations. The old incinerator stack will be used to dispense the smoke from the fire facility.
The incinerator building itself was originally 7,360 square feet in total floor space. With the addition of two floors into the original shell and with the addition of fire floor wings, the total available space of the renovated facility will be 25,500 square feet. Included within this amount will be 5,500 square feet for the Print Shop, 1,000 square feet of environmentally controlled records storage, a fire proof vault for permanent documents, a 3,500 square feet supply warehouse and dock, and the remaining space as general storage to include voting machines and archaeology artifacts.
Renovations done throughout the 1980s altered both the exterior and interior of the building. A freight elevator was installed, which is now used to move archival material to different floors.
After the Print Shop’s closure, the space once allocated to it is now used by the Archives. There was a stripping room where film was cut; a dark room; a room to develop film; and a room to store printing machines. Many of these rooms have been converted to offices or are used to store flat files.
The collection of the Archives and Records Center now occupies six rooms in the building, with shelving reaching high to the ceiling. In other rooms, artifacts and other items from the historic houses around Alexandria are also stored, protected behind polyethylene sheeting. Stored are liquid-filled glass bottles from the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum’s collection; large voting machines; and miscellaneous furniture and paintings. Access to the current fourth floor was added in the 1980s—in the storage room on this floor, one can see the exposed rafters of the gabled roof. The ceiling is padded to seal the collection from outside moisture and keep the temperature inside cooler.
In the First Floor Plans, the rooms are labeled according to their original use. Since the Archives moved in and the Print Shop moved out, their use has changed. For example, the rooms in the center are now offices of staff rather than a “camera room” or a room for “stripping and plating.”
In the plans to the right, notice how the façade of the North & South Elevations have changed drastically from the original incinerator elevations.
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First Floor Plans and North & East, South & West Building Elevations of the “Alexandria Print Shop and Central Storage Warehouse Fire Training Burn Building & Garage,” February 9, 1981
City of Alexandria Archives and Records Center
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These plans reflect the most recent usage of the original incinerator complex by the Archives, including the storage space found on the fourth floor with the exposed rafters.
First Floor Plans, Partition Types, Notes & Schedules; Third & Fourth Floor Plans, Sections & Misc. Details
Modifications to Alexandria Archives, 801 South Payne Street, Alexandria, Virginia, June 8, 1998
City of Alexandria Archives and Records Center
THE TORPEDO FACTORY ART CENTER
THE CARLYLE HOUSE