Jefferson School may get local historic designation

A proposal to make the Jefferson School a locally protected historic property will likely appear before the Charlottesville government next month, city officials say.

If approved, adding local protections to the school would ensure that any proposed changes to the building’s exterior — whether they are small or as much as demolishing the structure — would require Board of Architectural Review approval.

Mary Joy Scala, the city’s preservation and design planner, said there were plans for a historic survey of the Starr Hill neighborhood, of which the Jefferson School is a part. But, she said, “The timing is important right now to get [the school] designated rather than waiting for a survey of the neighborhood.”

“I think this has been talked about in the past,” Scala said.

A multimillion-dollar restoration is planned for the former all-black school, eventually creating the Jefferson School City Center, though those changes almost exclusively involve the school’s interior and not changes to its outside appearance.

“It’s going to be the same building,” City Planner Nick Rogers said. “And a lot of that is conditioned on the historic tax credits that they’re getting.”

In September, the City Council authorized an option and purchase agreement for the Jefferson School Community Partnership to buy the school property plus .187 acres that is a part of the City Yard for $100,000. Later that month, councilors initiated the process for the school to become an individually protected property, a local historic designation that protects specific properties that are not located within larger historic districts.

The school is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, though those titles do not impose any property restrictions.

The restoration is not slated to change the building’s exterior, but Rogers said recent city government actions led to the suggestion that the Jefferson School should have local historic protection. Earlier this year, the school property received a rezoning that would allow it to operate a cafe, and Rogers said that rezoning could potentially raise the property’s value and create incentives for a developer to not preserve the building.

“We felt there were some negative impacts of the rezoning from a historic preservation perspective,” he said.

The Jefferson School’s beginnings go back to the 1860s, but the current school near downtown Charlottesville was built in 1926, next to the old Jefferson Graded School. The high school became an all-black elementary school in 1951, and in subsequent years was used for a variety of purposes, such as classroom and office space.

The Jefferson School shut its doors in 2002.

Almost every single jurisdiction in Virginia has past all-black schools functioning in other capacities, Virginia state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III said in an interview.

“Some of those buildings have been converted to full-service facilities for all children, others have been converted into museums,” said Marsh, who is also the chairman of the state’s Special Subcommittee on the 50th Anniversary of Public School Closings in Virginia.

“It’s certainly appropriate to preserve those buildings, so we don’t forget what once was,” he said. “These schools played a critical role in our history.”

The redevelopment of the school is slated to be a $17 million endeavor, with close to $5.8 million coming from city funding. The rest will be obtained through private financing and tax credits.

Post-restoration, the school will be home to an African-American Heritage Center and the city’s Carver Recreation Center. Additionally, the nonprofits and other organizations planning to set up in the school are the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, a satellite campus of Piedmont Virginia Community College, the YMCA, Common Ground Healing Arts and Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville-Albemarle.