Old Town North Arts & Cultural Walk Plan

On January 12, 2019, the City Council unanimously approved a development special use permit and site plan for an arts and cultural anchor in Old Town North, following the guidelines established in the Small Area Plan.

Old Town North Alliance engaged Winstanley Architects & Planners to develop an Arts & Cultural Walk Plan consistent with the SAP. Per the SAP, the arts corridor was conceptualized along N. Fairfax Street at the Wythe Street intersection to the old Power Plant site. In order to maximize engaging the community and visitors, The Arts & Cultural Walk Plan proposed by the team, extends the walk to start (or end) at the base of King Street where the Torpedo Factory Arts Center and the King Street Art Plaza are located to form an Arts Anchor.

Through establishing Arts & Culture Anchors at the southern and northern tips of the walk, and identifying a series of Anchors along the walk, the plan proposed to set up a strong visual and program rich walk filled with art types to then spread outward to the adjacent streets to create an Arts & Cultural District. The team developed a set of art types into categories of public space art forms, building exterior treatment, building interior programming and programming to be implemented into the plan.