The Garages of Falls Church

Falls Church City used to have nice, moderate-sized houses on nice, moderate sized lots.  Developers are now tearing down those houses and putting up long, narrow garages that people live above.  This one, below, has charming faux stonework.  There is actually a tiny pedestrian door to the right, by the two mini shrubs.  The most prominent feature of this house, though, is the vinyl garage door with faux walnut stain.  

There goes the neighborhood!

And the house's twin is going up next door.  Looks like it will have the much-coveted "jutting out double-length garage with tiny study on top."  I'm sure it'll be snapped up soon.  

The Story of the new Easter Seals building on Hillwood Street

Nice to hear what happened behind-the-scenes to get the new Easter Seals facility built.  

An excerpt from Todd Ray's article in the 3 July 2014 Falls Church News-Press:

The City of Falls Church had a problem. It was renting surplus space to the Easter Seals Child Development Center of Northern Virginia, a much needed social services program, but its growing public school system was in need of the space. 

Ending Easter Seals’ lease meant losing an important community service. As municipalities throughout Northern Virginia become larger and more prosperous, non-profits like Easter Seals are going further afield to find affordable space. The City of Falls Church wanted to keep Easter Seals in its borders. A combination of fast-thinking, altruism, and collaboration allowed Easter Seals to not only stay in the City of Falls Church, but to own a beautiful new facility all its own. 

Easter Seals is a non-profit organization providing services for millions of children and adults living with a variety of conditions, from autism to cancer. The Easter Seals Child Development Center (CDC) in Falls Church provides programs for children, with and without disabilities, from six weeks old to five years old. In the area, it is one of a limited number of organizations serving populations with special needs. 

For James Snyder, Director of Planning and Development Services for the City of Falls Church, keeping the Easter Seals Center in the City was imperative, but there was no new space to house the program. Snyder had an idea.

Read the rest of his guest commentary here.  

Not included in the story are the before and after pictures.  

Before:  blight.

(Photo courtesy Google Maps)

After:  New Easter Seals facility.  Nice.

(This photo is copyrighted by the blog owner.)