Vines climb the north side of Maury School in Fredericksburg. Closed in 1980, the building will be fixed up by Kenmore, the city and Mary Washington College. ram View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Pact inked to renovate Maury School

City officials, MWC and Kenmore pledge to fix up former school

By ELIZABETH PEZZULLO

Date published: 9/26/2003

By ELIZABETH PEZZULLO College, city, preservationists sign agreement

It may be hard to fathom, but imagine the dilapidated hulk of the old Maury School--broken windows and all--playing host to masterpieces by Renoir and Monet.

If a collaborative committee that's been meeting since October has its way, it will happen.

"I can definitely see getting exhibits from the Corcoran [gallery] and Smithsonian," said City Councilman Scott Howson, a member of the committee, who has made refurbishing Maury a near obsession since 1989. "In fact, it will be the first time Fredericksburg has secured a public gallery space."

Yesterday, a further commitment to that end was made when officials from Fredericksburg, Mary Washington College and George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to restore the former school that closed in 1980.

Gathered under a blue and white tent on the spruced-up lawn in front of the school tucked between Kenmore and George streets, about 50 people witnessed the signing.

When completed, the site will be known as the The Maury Center in Liberty Town, the neighborhood where Maury is located.

"In the last 20 years, [the school] has lost its way," said Fredericksburg Mayor Bill Beck. "Now, we've charted a course for revitalizing the building and the neighborhood."

Beck's comments were laced with nautical references in keeping with the school's namesake, Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanographer known as the "pathfinder of the seas."

The committee's vision is to transform the former Fredericksburg High School into two entities.

The original section of the school--built in 1919--will be used as a civic center with meeting areas, a theatre and performance and exhibit space.

The other side--built in 1929--will be a presidential center, dedicated to housing research and other artifacts of Presidents James Monroe and George Washington.

When it was built, Maury School was considered one of the best examples of Colonial Revival architecture in Fredericksburg. That remains true today.

Despite decades of accumulated mold and mildew, the terra-cotta brick school's interior looks much the way it did when it was open.

Wooden basketball backboards still adorn the gymnasium, and more than 700 chairs are still eerily perched in the auditorium as though awaiting the next class assembly.

"It's as good as it was 70 years ago," Howson said while touring the school yesterday morning. "It was very solidly built."

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Date published: 9/26/2003