The end is near for a school building that has stood in Dunn Loring since the Great Depression.
After operating for nearly nine decades, first as a school and then as an administrative hub, the Dunn Loring Administrative Center at 2334 Gallows Road will close in phases next month to make way for a new elementary school.
Fairfax County Public Schools announced last week that the Family Resource Center, student registration welcome center, early childhood testing site and multi-lingual language services housed at the two-story brick building will move to the Pimmit Hills Center, where they will reopen on June 1.
The Family Resource Center will close first on May 4, while the cut-offs for student registration and early childhood testing appointments are May 8 and 15, respectively. Until services resume at the Pimmit Hills Center (7510 Lisle Avenue), families will need to visit centers in Herndon (455 Springpark Place) and Virginia Hills (6520 Diana Lane in Rose Hill) for assistance.
The programs at the Dunn Loring Center currently serve an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 families each year, an FCPS spokesperson told FFXnow.
“We know many families depend on these services and that any change can require adjustments,” FCPS said in a press release. “Our focus is on making this transition as smooth and predictable as possible, while continuing to provide the support your family needs every step of the way.”
While the Dunn Loring Center building will be gone, the planned redevelopment of the approximately 9.3-acre parcel with a four-story elementary school will return the site to its original purpose.
Opened in September 1939, the Dunn Loring School was constructed for approximately $41,948 with grant funds awarded by the federal Public Works Administration. Community members had lobbied the Fairfax County School Board for a new school to serve a growing number of homes in Dunn Loring and Idylwood.
Planned with five classrooms and an auditorium designed to seat 250 people, the school was built on land acquired by the school board from the family of a formerly enslaved man, Joseph B. Taylor, according to a history shared by FCPS.
Dunn Loring Elementary drew 256 students on its first day, exceeding expectations and requiring some to be transferred to other schools in Vienna and Oakton. The region’s post-World War II population boom prompted multiple expansions of the building, but by the 1970s, enrollment declined to the point where the school board voted to permanently close the facility.
The building was repurposed in 1988 as an administrative center, though for two years prior to that, it was leased to the Islamic Saudi Academy. That private school moved to Herndon, where it operated as King Abdullah Academy until its unexpected closure last year coincidentally set the stage for the new Skyview High School that FCPS hopes to open this fall.
Funded by $36.8 million in bond sales originally intended for a school in the Oakton area, the new Dunn Loring Elementary School will be 127,926 square feet in size with a capacity for 900 students and 100 staff. The design features new recreational facilities, including a dual soccer/softball field to replace the existing soccer field, basketball courts, playgrounds and paved play areas.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the development plan in February 2025 despite some objections from residents and the Fairfax County History Commission to the size of the new building and FCPS’ plan to demolish the existing structure. Some community members also questioned the need for the school at a time when enrollment is dipping, but facility needs and costs keep climbing.
According to FCPS’ project page, the new Dunn Loring school will relieve capacity pressures at “as many as ten other elementary schools” in the Dunn Loring, Falls Church and Tysons areas.
While acknowledging that the Dunn Loring Center building is listed on the county’s inventory of historic sites, FCPS says the designation doesn’t come with any restrictions on modifications or replacements. The school system argues that the redevelopment will better serve the community, but after negotiating with the history commission, it has committed to preserving some artifacts.
“The existing building will be demolished,” FCPS said in a statement to FFXnow. “However, the Office of Design and Construction is taking steps to incorporate features of the current building into the new school building. Examples of these features include the entranceway, exterior bricks, and the building’s historic Public Works Administration plaque.”
FCPS says it expects construction of the new Dunn Loring Elementary School to begin this summer, though a contractor hasn’t been selected yet. Bid solicitations for the project are scheduled to open on May 6, per the design and construction office.
