Walk Through the Alexandria That Urban Renewal Erased

The “Lost Buildings of Alexandria—Urban Renewal” walking tour begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Carlyle House Historic Park, 121 N. Fairfax St.

The $20 tour focuses on the north side of the 300 through 500 blocks of King Street, along with portions of the 100 blocks of North Fairfax, North Royal and North Pitt streets.

Those blocks were reshaped during the Gadsby Commercial Urban Renewal Project, part of a national movement that gathered force in the 1950s and 1960s. Government and private initiatives promised to address deterioration, improve infrastructure and revive downtown districts. They also demolished buildings, displaced uses and permanently changed historic neighborhoods.

According to the Office of Historic Alexandria, the Gadsby project changed and demolished portions of multiple Old Town blocks, including part of a racially mixed neighborhood. The City now describes the legacy as mixed: the effort was intended to stimulate economic activity and beautify downtown, but it also uprooted residents and erased historic buildings.

One image from the period makes the scale of the change unmistakable: a cleared construction site on the north side of the 500 block, with heavy equipment working where older buildings once stood.

In Alexandria, the project changed or removed parts of several Old Town blocks. The tour uses the streets themselves to explore what stood there, why it disappeared and how the decisions continue to shape the city residents see today.

The program comes at an especially visible moment for the neighborhood. City Hall, Market Square Plaza and the underground garage are undergoing another major renovation, placing questions about preservation, public space and change directly in front of anyone walking through the civic center.

The tour begins at Carlyle House but covers many city blocks. Organizers recommend walking shoes and bottled water. It will be held rain or shine, and every participant needs a ticket.

A second north-side tour is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Attending the earlier south-side tour offered in May is not required.

Historic Alexandria included the program in its Sept. 8 weekly events announcement.

The strongest history tours do more than point toward handsome old buildings. This one asks a harder question: what did Alexandria decide not to keep?