Stratford Junior High School is a historic

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

building located in the Cherrydale neighborhood of

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. It was designed in 1949, and built in 1950. An addition was built in 1995. It is a two- to three-story, concrete post-and-beam building clad primarily in buff brick and sandstone veneer. The building is in a high-style International Style architecture. It features a two-story, three bay projecting

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

of exposed concrete on four tapered concrete columns. Other features include a flat parapet roof, decorative minimalism, and the strong horizontal qualities of the building emphasized by the use of finishing materials and banded windows. In 1959, Stratford Junior High School became the first public secondary school in the Commonwealth of Virginia to

desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

with the admission of four African American students. From 1978 to 2019, it housed the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program. an
''Accompanying four photos''
/ref> It is now the site of Dorothy Hamm Middle School, with a new addition started in 2019, and finished in 2021. In 2023 the current student attendance is 851 students including 15 ESL. The building was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2003. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2004. It was designated as a local Historic District by the

Arlington County Board Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

in 2016.

References

School segregation in the United States School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia International style architecture in Virginia School buildings completed in 1950 Schools in Arlington County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Arlington County, Virginia {{ArlingtonCountyVA-NRHP-stub