Public Works and Environmental Services Alert:
A Glass Blowing Studio is coming to the Workhouse Arts Center.
The Workhouse Campus is a historically important county-owned property. It is the site of the former Lorton Reformatory operated by the DC Department of Corrections. The Reformatory closed in 2001 and the following year the property was purchased by Fairfax County. The current buildings on the Campus were constructed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the federal government entered into a legally binding Memorandum of Agreement with Fairfax County to preserve the historically significant buildings on the Campus in a manner that favors adaptive reuse.
In July 2004, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors rezoned the Campus to the Planned Development Commercial (PDC) District to permit repurposing by the Lorton Arts Foundation through the adaptive reuse of the existing historic structures to establish the Campus as a unique arts, cultural and recreational resource for the community. Eleven historic buildings on the Campus have been restored resulting in the activation of approximately 95,881 square feet as an arts center. Also, located on the Campus is an 82,500 square green space (the Quad) and nearly 1,000 parking spaces. The Campus was originally envisioned to include: artists’ studios (70,429 sq. ft.), a prison museum and community heritage center (15,200 sq. ft.), an art gallery (15,600 sq. ft.), an events center for weddings, conferences, etc. with up to 600 seats (36,250 sq. ft.), a 300 seat performing arts center consisting of a black box or flexible space (37,150 sq. ft.), a theater with 450 seats (11,250 sq. ft.), a music hall with a combination of indoor and outdoor seating for up to 800 people, an outdoor horticultural display area with a greenhouse, and the adaptive reuse of other historic structures to support the arts center such as office and storage space.
The open space on Campus includes the Quad, various lawn spaces in and around buildings, outdoor dirt trails, the Cross County Trail, and a historic baseball field. The 2004 approval also allow for the construction of 2 new restaurant and forty dwelling units originally intended for artists and performers in two “live-work” multi-family structures. In total, the 2004 approved zoning application allows for the adaptive reuse of more than 211,000 square feet within 25 historic structures and construction of more than 60,000 square feet in four new structures.
In September of 2023, Fairfax County completed a Master Plan Study to establish the vision for future Campus redevelopment. The exterior renovation of two buildings, W13 & W15, located at the front of the Campus along Ox Road was also completed in 2023. These structures were renovated to a warm lit shell for restaurant, craft beverage production or tasting room uses to assist with the activation of the site. And outdoor dining deck bridging between brick plazas was created to link the two structures. The Workhouse Campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and anchors the northern end of the NOVA Arts and Cultural District.
Workhouse Building W-7A renovation of approximately 960 square feet to provide the Workhouse Art Center with a new glass blowing studio.
The Building W7A project site is located at 9502 Workhouse Way, Lorton VA 22079, on the County’s historic Workhouse Campus.
The project is currently in the building design phase.
| Selective Demolition, Assessments, and Design Concepts | February – March 2025 |
| Building Design and Construction Contract Award | April – December 2025 |
| Building Construction | January 2026 – August 2026 |
The estimated cost for the design and construction of the proposed glass blowing studio is $2,100,000.
For more information about the project, please contact project manager, Eileen Gasteiger, at Eileen.Gasteiger@fairfaxcounty.gov, Building Design and Construction Division, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.