Gilliam Place

Nov 2019
Town Center: 3507 Columbia Pike

Gilliam Place,

is named in honor of Ronda A. Gilliam:

Ronda A. Gilliam (1906-1970) resided in Arlington View, served at Ft. Myer and worked at the National Archives. In 1960, one year after the desegregation of Arlington County schools, he became the first African American member of Arlington Presbyterian Church. He served as a church Elder as well as an Elder Commissioner to the Washington City Presbytery. In 1970 Mr. Gilliam founded a clothing assistance program to serve school children and those in distress. After his passing in 1970, the Clothing Bank at APC was named in his honor. Arlington Presbyterian

Gilliam Place has recently been completed. The building replaces the old stone buiding of the Arlington Presbyterian Church see below. The congregation voted in November 2013 to approve the site's redevelopment into affordable housing with the possiblity of space for the church in the new building. The sale of the building was approved by the National Capital Presbytery. It was later negotiated for the Church to have space on the first floor of the new building. The Church also uses the plot of land that is behind the building and have created a small park, this area was used for services while Gilliam Place was being built, weather permitting, and is still used for church events .

Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, APAH

The site was sold to Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, APAH.
APAH is a nonprofit focused on increasing the number of committed affordable apartments in the DC Metro area . Gilliam Place has 173 units of affordable housing for those earning 60% of the area median income (AMI) or below. It includes 1, 2, 3 bedroom and studio appartments along with 15 accessible units to meet the needs of persons with disabilitits

La Cocina

La Cocina is a bilingual culinary training program, and Food Assistance for low-income individuals. It is expected to open a school and cafe on the first floor of Gilliam Place in the spring of 2020.

November 23 2020 Updated

Grand Opening

Saturday November 16, 2019 was the grand opening of Gilliam Place. APAH presented a Health Fair and the Church had an Open House and provided lunch from the Reddi2Eat truck. A local metal artist prepared copper that will later be used to create two communion cups and a musical triangle for the new Church. Later there was a community sing-along in the garden.

Arlington Presbyterian Church

Copper Communion Cups & Musical Triangle

Mercedes, a local artist who works with metals, prepared copper from the lightening rod part of the cross from the Old Stone Church along with copper from a pipe in the buildout, by sawing them into small pieces. She then melted down the copper pieces and is going to create two communion cups and a musical triangle for the new church.

Our cross is from our previous building and was something APC wanted to bring with them into our new space. Instead of having the cross professionally removed from the old steeple, the congregation let the cross fall in the demolition and into the rubble. They dragged the cross out of the rubble. Pastor Ashley Goff

1st Floor

The Church has a very attractive lobby. It has has a large room for worship (the photos do not do it justice it is larger than it appears below). There are smaller rooms for prayer, meditation and study.

APAH

Health Fair

The Health Fair was held in the APAH offices on the first floor.

There were a number of heath care companies along with medical information and free flu shots.

History

The Arlington Presbyterian Church

The Arlington Presbyterian Church was chartered on April 21, 1908. The first church building, a short distance away from the present lot, was destroyed by fire on December 20, 1924. A new Church designed by the Architect A. F. Thelander was built in 1930, on a new lot at Columbia Pike and South Lincoln. The Church was enlarged in 1949 with a stone addition and remodeled steeple and again in 1961 with a brick addition. Behind the church was a children's playground which is now the park.

Funshine Preschool

Funshine Preschool which operated a daycare center at the church site was not part of the redevelopment. They found a new home at the Macedonia Baptist Church, 3412 22nd Street South, they moved in the spring of 2016.

Preservation

Two county residents requested an historic district designation for APC in 2013.
As of May 28, 2014 Preservation Arlington states:

Historic Significance: Designed by prominent local architect, cornerstone has ties to George Washington and the U.S. Capitol
The county Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board agreed in early 2014 that it meets the criteria for local landmark designation and protection but chose to not designate the property..