BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Alexandria -- Torpedo Factory Art Center

VA -- Alexandria -- Torpedo Factory Art Center:

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[1] TORPED_101223_008.JPG	[2] TORPED_101223_013.JPG	[3] TORPED_101223_018.JPG
[4] TORPED_101223_021.JPG	[5] TORPED_101223_028.JPG	[6] TORPED_101223_031.JPG
[7] TORPED_101223_037.JPG	[8] TORPED_101223_045.JPG	[9] TORPED_101223_050.JPG
[10] TORPED_101223_055.JPG	[11] TORPED_101223_056.JPG	[12] TORPED_101223_061.JPG
[13] TORPED_101223_065.JPG	[14] TORPED_101223_073.JPG	[15] TORPED_101223_074.JPG
[16] TORPED_101223_081.JPG	[17] TORPED_101223_086.JPG	[18] TORPED_101223_092.JPG
[19] TORPED_101223_096.JPG	[20] TORPED_101223_099.JPG	[21] TORPED_101223_104.JPG
[22] TORPED_101223_109.JPG	[23] TORPED_101223_112.JPG	[24] TORPED_101223_115.JPG
[25] TORPED_101223_120.JPG	[26] TORPED_101223_123.JPG	[27] TORPED_101223_127.JPG
[28] TORPED_101223_131.JPG	[29] TORPED_101223_143.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. TORPED_101223_021.JPG: Welcome: 1918: Planned as a munitions plant for WWI, but construction did not start until after the war ended. 1940s: 5,000-6,000 munition workers produced 9920 MK XIV Torpedoes. 1974: Lief was brought to the waterfront. 1983: Second Renovation. 2007: Artists have an opportunity to keep their dream growing.
2. TORPED_101223_028.JPG: The Beginning Battleship Grey: Like a great grey battleship moored on the edge of the Virginia shore, the Torpedo Plant opened in 1919 as World War I ended. A bridge over Union Street connected two of the main buildings of the Torpedo Factory at the second floor level: the four-story doughnut-shaped Building 1 that filled the block between Lee, Cameron and Union Streets, and Building 2, a two-story structure facing its own docs. A guard station projected out from Building 2 to control the view of Union Street and the railroad tracks that ran down its middle almost the entire length of the waterfront. In 1937, the plant was reactivated as the Naval Torpedo Station, and at the outbreak of World War II it was ready for production. The first Mark XIV torpedo produced was successfully tested at Piney Point, Maryland on Aprul 1, 1941. Before the war was over, the torpedo plant would produce 9920 of these torpedoes. The Station kept a tally of the number of ships destroyed.
3. TORPED_101223_050.JPG: Mark XIV Submarine Torpedo: This Mark XIV (model 3A) submarine torpedo, serial number 64220, is one of the 9,920 torpedoes manufactured at the Alexandria Naval Torpedo Station between 1939 and 1946. This torpedo, 21 feet long and 21 inches in diameter, once housed a quarter ton of explosives and had a range of 4,500 yards at 46 knots. Developed between 1931 and 1933, the Mark XIV was faster and had a greater range than earlier models. The torpedo's bright green color enabled easy sighting and recovery during its test runs.
4. TORPED_101223_055.JPG: In the Beginning: The Torpedo Factory has undergone many transformations, from a Torpedo Assembly plant in 1920 to an Art Center in 1974. The location of a Torpedo Assembly plant on Alexandria's waterfront was approved by the Secretary of the Navy on August 5, 1918. Ironically, when construction of the two buildings began on November 12th, Armistice had just been declared. By the time the plant opened for operation, early in 1920, it had received its first order for 1008 torpedoes. Building 1, a four-story structure built between Union and Lee Streets, contained mechanic shops, the dispensary, a cafeteria and offices, while Building 2 was a storehouse. The first torpedoes were completed by the end of the year, and production continued for four years. Torpedoes manufactured in Alexandria were sent to Piney Point, Maryland, where they were shot down river from a torpedo test barge, to test distance and course. Peacetime usage of torpedoes included clearance of icebergs from North Atlantic shipping lanes, but this limited need was met y the Newport, Rhode Island plant. The work force was reduced from 500 to 30 men. Between the two World Wars over 900 torpedoes were stored in this building, and various government offices rented space in other portions of the plant.
5. TORPED_101223_074.JPG: "... You felt that you were helping." Over 5,000 employees worked at the Alexandria Naval Torpedo Station during the Second World War. Three full shifts were in operation seven days per week. One worker recalls that during the war, "We were only given one holiday a year except for Christmas. Mine was February 22 and we left before that." A secretary remembers her hours as 7:30am to 4:00pm, with Sunday afternoon off and unpaid overtime. Security was tight, with a "roof garden detachment" of Marine sentries, identification badges, and handbag inspections. Pay was considered good, and new housing was built in Chinquapin (a park today) for the influx of factory workers. A Wave detachment was quartered at the Lloyd House. The Employee Recreation Association sponsored events and published a newspaper. On Navy Day, there was a parade on King Street, torpedoes were shot from the test barge and "lassoed," and the townspeople were invited for tours of the factory's non-secure areas. After the first women came to work in 1938, the factory was the site of many romances. Morale was excellent, spawned by the employees' pride in participating in the war effort. An employee remembers, "I was very proud that I worked there and had a part in it. I know this sounds strange now, but when you knew that one you worked on had made a hit, you felt that you were helping."
6. TORPED_101223_081.JPG: World War II: The advent of World War II brought about the construction of additional buildings and an increase in the work force from 38 in 1938 to more than 5,000 in 1946. Torpedoes in storage were overhauled and sent to England under the Lend-Lease Act. From January 1939 to June 1946 the plant produced 9,920 Mark XIV torpedoes. In addition to the manufacture of the Mark XIV submarine torpedo, the plant assembled Mark XIII aircraft torpedoes and other ordnance. In 1942, a shore establishment was built at the Piney Point testing range and a second firing barge was added. After testing, the torpedoes were sent to the Franklin Street Annex for overhaul, repair, adjustment, packaging and shipment. Taken over from the Ford Motor Company in 1942, this building is now a Federal warehouse.
7. TORPED_101223_086.JPG: After World War II, production ended and the complex housed offices and a repository for Federal records, including the Nazi war records. The factory also stored dinosaur bones and other Smithsonian Institution property, and was a base for the Smithsonian's archeological involvement in the King Street Urban Renewal Project. In 1969, the complex was purchased by the City of Alexandria. Buildings 2 and 10 opened as the Torpedo Factory Art center in 1974. Other buildings housed City records, a parking garage, and the City's Archeology Program. Building 1 was razed in 1982 to make way for a parking garage and townhouse development and Building 3, a World War II addition, was redesignated for private offices. In 1983, the Torpedo Factory Art Center reopened in the renovated Building 2. Eighty-four Art studios and four cooperative galleries, the Art League School, and the offices and exhibits of Alexandria Archeology today are all co-residents of the Torpedo Factory.
Wikipedia Description: Torpedo Factory Art Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Torpedo Factory Art Center is an art center located on the waterfront of the Potomac River at 105 North Union Street in the Old Town of Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Historically it was literally a former torpedo factory and munitions storage site.

It houses more 82 artists' studios, 6 galleries and two workshops, with some 165 professional visual artists who produce a diversity of artwork, ranging from painting, ceramics, photography, jewelry, stained glass, fiber, printmaking, and sculpture. The six galleries located at the Torpedo Factory include the Target Gallery, The Art League Gallery, Enamelists Gallery, the Multiple Exposures Gallery which specializes in photography, the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery and the Scope Gallery which specializes in ceramics.

The centre attracts around 500,000 visitors annually.

History:

On November 12, 1918, the U.S. Navy began constructing a torpedo factory in Alexandria, named the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station. Over the next five years it was responsible for the manufacture and maintenance of torpedoes and subsequently served as a munitions storage area until World War II. As the demand for weapons dramatically increased during the war it resumed production activity and the factory was substantially expanded with ten new buildings. A green Mark XIV torpedo was manufactured in the factory in 1945, which is still on display.

After World War II, production ceased and is was used throughout the 1950s and 1960s by the Smithsonian institution who stored art and paleaontological items there and by Congress for storing documents. Then in 1969, the President of the Art League, Marian Van Landingham proposed to adapt the building into studios for working artists and following the approval of the Commission, the factory was purchased by the City of Alexandria from the Federal Government. Large-scale renovation began in the May of 1974 and the redevelopment team worked arduously through the summer, enabling the new centre to formally open on September 15, 1974. From 1982 to 1983, the building underwent further renovation in compliance with City's waterfront development plan and was entirely gutted and rebuilt with a new ventilation system and central heating. It formally reopened on May 20, 1983.
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