Long-vacant Truxton Circle school may become community center, Peace Corps museum

Running across a vacant or blighted building in DC isn’t uncommon, much to the chagrin of residents. In May 2016, Greater Greater Washington put the “official count” of vacant and blighted buildings in the city at approximately 1,200, but the number is likely even higher.

There are also many former schoolhouses in the District that have seen better days. There are approximately 21 DC-owned schoolhouses built between 1865 and 1930 that are either vacant or dilapidated. But if a private nonprofit gets its way, one of these buildings will finally get a new use.

The National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is in the “exploratory” phase of considering redeveloping the Langston School at 43 P St. NW. According to NPCA president and CEO Glenn Blumhorst, the organization is considering reusing the building as a “Peace Corps House,” which would be like a community center or settlement house where neighbors can gather and interact with one another. There are also plans for a museum that would share “the Peace Corps experience” so that visitors can learn what volunteers do and what the federal entity, Peace Corps, does.

“It seemed like this was a very logical option for us to look at,” Blumhorst said. “Essentially [it would be] a Peace Corps community center.”

The NPCA is currently located near Dupont Circle at 1900 L St. NW, which doesn’t provide the space for the museum as envisioned. There are no renderings available yet for the project, and Blumhorst said that the organization hopes to leverage pro-bono support from an architectural or design firm before moving forward. Two firms have shown interest, but neither has committed to the project. There is no set timeline as to when the NPCA will submit plans to the Zoning Commission or the Board of Zoning Adjustment.

The NPCA has spoken to the Bates Area Civic Association (BACA) to attain neighborhood input and support. The civic association has been struggling for over a decade to get the Langston School and the adjacent Slater School returned to public use, BACA president Kyle Thomas said.

In order to create a list of what the organization would and would not support, a small committee of volunteers was formed within the BACA. There is no unanimous support on a single use, but Thomas said the committee does support the buildings being renovated with the structure preserved and returned to something that is “community-focused.” Retail is also being considered.

BACA is “reluctant to support too much residential-housing development in those buildings because we think that would be kind of a departure from their existing use,” Thomas said. The organization is also hesitant to see the building used for social services. “We are kind of saturated with those kinds of programs,” he said. In 2012 Truxton Circle had 13 social service agencies, including So Others Might Eat (SOME) and Action for Peace through Prayer and Aid (APPA).

The current state of the Langston School “invites crime,” Thomas said, adding that the building is rodent-infested and “falling down.”

Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie has shown interest in finding a new use for the school. “It is my hope, not only as the Ward 5 council member but also the chair of the Committee on Business and Economic Development, to work collaboratively with the community and its first-line-of-defense local leaders to remove the boards from the windows and doors and open the site to a welcome use.”

The city offered the building to several charter schools in 2012, but all declined because of its decrepit state, according to the locally focused InShaw Blog. In 2013 the school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Constructed in 1902, the two-story, red-brick school originally served the African-American community, teaching grades 1 through 8. It was designed by architect Appleton P. Clark Jr., one of the city’s most influential architects of the time.

Designed in the Italianate style, the building has eight classrooms as well as two towers on the south front elevation, marking the boys’ and girls’ entrances. A playground is located on the east side of the school.

lt was named after John Mercer Langston, the first African-American congressman from Virginia. Born in 1829 as a slave, Langston later graduated from Oberlin College and in 1868 moved to D.C. to become inspector general of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. He served as dean of Howard University’s law school and as the university’s vice president and acting president. He later served in Congress.

Before the Langston School was built, there was much consternation from locals on the placement of the segregated building. A Nov. 27, 1900, Washington Post article noted the “decided protest” of the all-white North Capitol Citizens Association and the Eckington Citizens Association against the school’s location. Despite this, the school was built in order to handle the overflow of students from the adjacent 1891-built Slater School, which also served the African-American population in the area.

In the late 1910s, after Slater’s third principal, Anna E. Thompson, became principal of both schools, there was a merger, creating what was referred to as Slater-Langston School. By 1925, one-quarter of the District’s black public school students were educated at the Langston and Slater schools. In 1993 the school closed due to low enrollment.

The building was briefly used as a homeless shelter in 1997, but the next year it was leased by a social service agency, Associates for Renewal in Education.

Since no charter school showed interest in the property, it was made available to developers. But none has finalized interest in the building.

Before the NPCA submits a formal proposal to the city, BACA will finalize its wish list and post it on its site.

Said Thomas, “A community should not have to push for something like this to happen.”