School Without Walls (Washington, D.C.) - Historic Building

Historic Building

See also: Ulysses S. Grant School (Washington, D.C.)

The historic Grant School, the building that houses The School Without Walls, was badly deteriorated. There was extensive water damage throughout the school as well. The brick facade needed to be repainted, and the slate roof was steadily losing its shingles. On February 13, 2006 the D.C. City Council and the George Washington University Board of Trustees approved a deal for $12 million dollars to renovate and expand the school building in exchange for transfer of the school's rear parking lot property to the university.

The old facade was kept intact while the inside was renovated and remodeled to better fit the needs of Walls students. In addition, an entirely new building was added as an additional wing to accommodate the constantly increasing enrollment. The new Walls features science labs in the basement, bathrooms and teacher spaces on each floor, and plenty of huge windows and natural lighting. Each classroom has a Promethean board, only one example of the new technology installed in the building. The entire building has wireless internet access as well.

The area where there used to be a parking lot and tennis courts is now the site of South Hall, a new GWU dormitory. Both buildings are LEED certified.

In August 2011, School Without Walls was forced to temporarily close, ironically because of damage sustained to the building's walls and roof during the earthquake and Hurricane Irene a few days later.