Using oversized pairs of scissors and celebrating the end of construction that began in May of last year, county officials and representatives of the school system symbolically cut a bright ribbon, officially opening the combined Reed School and new Westover Library Friday, Oct. 30.
The new $22.5 million facility, which attaches a new community library building to a fully reconstructed elementary school on a key corner location along Washington Boulevard, won praise from speakers at the dedication ceremony in the center’s front plaza.
"We absolutely got the design right," said Sally Baird, chair of the School Board. "This is an outstanding building, and it will serve the community for generations and generations to come."
Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh highlighted the new library’s amenities, including 20 public access computer terminals (where the old library had fewer than a half dozen), 10,000 additional items in the collection, and a spacious layout — triple the size of the old building — filled with natural light flooding in from surrounding high windows. The public will also have access to two meeting rooms, and high-quality video projection available for multi-media presentations.
"We’ve created something synergistic and special, an expansion of the village core," Kresh said. She had particularly high regard for the structure’s placement close to the corner of its plot, directly across McKinley from the post office, and a stone’s throw from local businesses, street parking, and the street life of the Westover community along Washington Boulevard. Kresh predicted the building will create a social destination away from the responsibilities of work or home: a "third place," in New Urbanist parlance.
"I see it being a focal point for community life," she said. "The fact that it’s right here on the corner is going to make a huge difference."
County Manager Ron Carlee agreed. "This is how you create smart growth in locations where you don’t have a subway stop right on top of you."

DESIGNED BY D.C. FIRM Cox Graae + Spack Architects, the dual-use school and library structure links the library and school facilities around the original Reed School façade. Built in 1938, the classic red brick schoolhouse stood as an initial community anchor before much of the Westover neighborhood had been built. Now the library sits behind the arched windows of the original front, while the school occupies the space just north — a ring of 13 classrooms arcing around a grassy central courtyard.
The project was designed to meet sustainability standards, and is expected to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements. With a solar reflective roof, numerous skylights, and photovoltaic electricity generation capabilities, utility savings are estimated to be over 22 percent.
Left behind is the Wilson School site in Rosslyn, which students attended during the two years of construction.
"This is our home," said school office manager Filza Chattha, who noted the facility’s spacious beauty (and proximity to teacher lunchtime favorite Lost Dog Café) as welcome improvements.
The old library structure, though well used, was cramped and showing wear, with mismatched furniture and ragged carpet. The building was also decaying.
"If the termites had stopped holding hands, the place would have fallen apart," joked Carlee.
Assistant Facilities Superintendent Clarence Stukes praised the collaboration between school, library and government officials that made the project possible. "It was a lot of work, but you did it," he said. "The schools didn’t do this, we all did this together."

THE SENSE OF COMMON cause behind the project’s development was enhanced by a broad program of speakers that included School Superintendent Patrick Murphy, Children’s School Director Naseera Maqsood, and Teen Parenting Program graduate Claudia Santos, among others. Underscoring the collaborative spirit of the ceremony, students from the school, colorfully costumed for Halloween, charmed the crowd by singing "The More We Get Together."
Then the giant scissors — and a few smaller blunt-nosed pairs for a few representative youngsters — were presented to the line of dedicators, and in one synchronized clip, pieces of bright red ribbon floated to the ground. At the same moment, librarians swung open the front doors, and the library was ready for business.