As Fox Elementary’s reconstruction draws to an end, its ‘iconic’ cupola returns to the roof
Just shy of three years after a fire devastated Fox Elementary, the cupola that for decades has helped make the school a landmark in the historic Fan District was lifted by crane to the roof as a crowd of residents cheered.
“It’s such an iconic piece of the Fan,” said Britt Olwine, the parent of a first grader slated to attend Fox once it reopens.
“It’s the thing you see from furthest away,” said Katie Ricard, the School Board member who represents the 2nd District where Fox is located and who was president of its parent-teacher association at the time the fire broke out on Feb. 11, 2022. “This is smack dab in the middle of the Fan. It is the center of this community.”
At 12:42 on Friday, the full 43-foot structure — lifted in two separate parts onto the roof — finally re-crowned the brick building, a symbol for many community members that restoration is nearly complete. Students are slated to return to Fox this August for the first time since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
“Fox Elementary School’s home is always 2300 Hanover Avenue, and there was never a doubt in my mind that we were going to be bringing students and staff and our family and friends back into this facility,” said 2nd District City Councilor Katherine Jordan.
The 2022 three-alarm fire that ravaged Fox destroyed the then 111-year-old building’s roof and severely damaged much of the inside. The Richmond Fire Department has never determined the cause of the blaze, but found no evidence to indicate it was deliberately set. Investigations later found a faulty alarm panel; additionally, the school, like many others in the division, had no fire sprinkler system because of its age.
John Skaritza, the parent of a third grader, remembered bringing his daughter to the playground behind the school at 5 p.m the day of the fire. When the school went up in flames hours later, “we couldn’t believe it,” he said.
The school was immediately closed, and its students shuffled to makeshift classrooms at First Baptist Church and then the recently shuttered Clark Springs Elementary, where they have remained during the restoration.
The reconstruction process “has moved as quickly as it could,” Ricard said Friday. The division received $15 million from the city for the project, as well as $5.6 million from the state, and tapped into historic tax credits to complete the rebuild.
“One of the reasons it has taken a little while is because it is a historic site,” said Superintendent Jason Kamras. That meant many of the original components of the building that could be saved from the fire, including the windows, have been restored and reinstalled in the school.
“A lot of what you’re going to see eventually when you come back into the building is a lot of the original finishes. We tried to keep that,” said Kamras — although, he noted, Richmond Public Schools did get permission to adjust some of the interior layouts to provide more classroom space than previously existed.
But for many, the process felt unfinished until the cupola once again adorned the Fox roof. A number of those who turned out Friday remembered seeing the damaged structure removed almost three years ago, an event they recalled as “somber” and “devastating.”
“I remember the day that it happened when we pulled it out,” said former 2nd District School Board member Mariah White. “Now we get ready to put it back in and put it all together again.”
Construction crews initially lifted the base of the cupola to the roof at about 11:12 a.m., but adjustments had to be made to ensure it was positioned correctly. Once it was relifted back in place, the cranes hoisted the spire of the structure on top.
Among the cheering crowd were dozens of children who this fall will be attending the rebuilt school but on Friday had no classes due to the city’s ongoing water emergency spurred by the failure of the water treatment plant Monday.
“It’s been a real bright spot in a really challenging week,” said Olwine.
