They used to make torpedoes here--nearly 10,000 type MK14, 3A torpedoes, to be precise, during World War II alone. As a powerful reminder, one casing--rounded, slick, and painted a garish yellow-green--stands on permanent display, alongside vitrines filled with relate souvenirs (miniature torpedo-shaped lapel pins, worker ID badges, and posters). After the war the building served as a storehouse for an odd assortment of materials, including the Nazi records used in the Nuremberg Trials and dinosaur bones from the Smithsonian. But since 1974 the building has been an artists' space, housing individual studios, exhibition areas, and classrooms. It is the ultimate flower child's fantasy: a structure designed to produce instruments of war now transformed into an arena for creative expression. It is, in short, the Torpedo Factory Art Center, one of the most remarkable features of the Old Town section in Alexandria, Virginia.
Revitalization
But the Torpedo Factory has done more than provide much needed space for the making, study, and appreciation of art. It has also had a tremendous impact on the surrounding community, through an ambitious series of educational outreach programs, and as a highlight of the recently renovated core of Old Town and the revitalization of the Potomac River water front. The successful make-over of the Torpedo Factory and the accompanying transformation of Old Town--accomplished via a complex system of financing combining city, federal, and private moneys--have become known thoughout the United States and beyond, serving as models for art centers in many other cities, and generating over 150 inquiries each year from places as diverse as Dallas, Seattle, Cleveland, and New Orleans, as well as Germany, Uruguay, England, Spain, and New Zealand.
Located five miles due south of the U.S. Capitol, Alexandria has a venerable history. Founded in 1749, for many decades Alexandria was a flourishing port city. But by the middle of this century it has suffered a dramatic decline. According to Engine Artemel, former planning director for the city of Alexandria, twenty years ago much of the city was characterized by derelict buildings. In the early 1970s, Alexandria initiated a massive urban renewal program, intended to restore commercial vitality to the downtown area without losing the architectural flavor of its surviving historic structures. Meanwhile, Artemel notes, the Potomac waterfront remained decidedly unattractive, with its abandoned lumberyard, unused rendering plant, concrete mixing factory, and automobile assembly plant. The piers were rotted and the waters near them filled with industrial wastes and half-sunken vessels.
Today, however, thanks to cooperative efforts by the city of Alexandria and private investors, people enjoy the waterfront, eating their lunches on benches in Founders Park, a lovely expanse of green where huge piles of coal use to be. The Park is further enlivened by gazebos, historic markers, and an unencumbered view of sailboats and a three-mated schooner, the Alexandria. People are also living in the handsome brick-faced townhouses that have replaced the old lumberyard. And the main drag King Street is unrecognizable, its sidewalks jammed with employees of the many trade associations that have relocated there, and shoppers browsing through the numerous antique and other specialty shops.
One of the main catalysts for Old Town's rebirth as a trendy, upscale
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