Once the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in Alexandria, Torpedo Factory Art Center is in the nation’s longest continually operated community of publicly accessible artists’ studios in a converted industrial space. It has inspired cultural placemaking around the world.

Artists earn studios through a multi-phase competitive jury process. Meet them as you visit all three floors. Spark your creative spirit by watching them work. Bring home original art, too.

Learn more at torpedofactory.org.

Torpedo Factory Art Center is managed by the City of Alexandria’s Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities through the Office of the Arts. Learn more at alexandriava.gov/arts. Follow @alexartsoffice on Instagram.

The City of Alexandria is seeking information through a Request for Information (hereinafter “RFI”), a market survey, for preliminary planning purposes in support of the City’s decision-making process regarding the future governance of the City-owned Torpedo Factory Art Center, located at 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, Virginia (hereinafter known as “TFAC”). The purpose of this RFI is to ascertain the interest and capacity of potential operators to lease, manage and operate TFAC. This is not a solicitation (e.g. Request for Proposal, Request for Qualifications), and no contract will be awarded from this request.

The City is seeking information from potential operators that have a proven combination of experience, financial capacity / credit worthiness and expertise in the management, operation, and marketing of successful art centers with the ability to manage artist studios, galleries, arts programming, and facility rentals.

Questions regarding this notice as well as submittal of the response in accordance with the RFI response requirements shall be sent electronically in PDF format via email to torpedofactory@alexandriava.gov on or before 4 p.m. eastern time, Friday, May 16, 2025. 

This RFI is found here. Respondents should check this website for any updates. To receive email notifications if updates are posted, please fill out this form: https://www.research.net/r/TFAC-RFI.

There will not be an Open Call for studios in 2025. As a result, only artists who have already been juried in will be eligible for studio opportunities. 

Please check back in January, 2026 for an update. 

For past Open Call information, including the Jury Report, visit torpedofactory.org/opencall

As part of the continued revitalization efforts of Torpedo Factory Art Center, the City established a stakeholder task force charged with helping develop a coherent approach to vibrancy and sustainability in alignment with the principles for Torpedo Factory Art Center adopted by City Council at their meeting on December 14,2021. 

Click here for information about the Stakeholder Task Force including meeting presentations and recordings. 

In 1973, many roads met to form a new cultural hub in Alexandria. Marian Van Landingham, as president of The Art League, sought a new building to house the nonprofit. Alexandria was also preparing for its Bicentennial celebrations and wanted to improve the derelict waterfront by 1974. James W. Coldsmith, editor of the Alexandria Journal, suggested Van Landingham consider the abandoned torpedo plant, solving two problems at once.

Van Landingham rallied the community and City Council around the idea. She joined the City of Alexandria’s staff as the Art Center’s first director from 1974 –1975, before embarking on a decades-long political career in the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond.

The Art Center was originally pitched as a three-year experiment. Under the direction of Van Landingham’s successor, Margaret Alderson, the longest-serving director to date, the Art Center established itself as an edifying mainstay for the region. 

They used to make torpedoes

Ground broke on the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in 1918, the day after Armistice Day ended WWI. Mark 3 torpedoes—like the silver model through the red doors to your right—began production in 1920. This building held the completed torpedoes as they waited to be shipped via the Potomac. The factory operated for five years before becoming munitions storage.

During WWII, the Torpedo Station grew to 16 buildings with 5,000 non-segregated employees. They produced Mark XIV torpedoes, including the green torpedo in the Grand Hall. The bright paint indicates it was a test torpedo, making it easier to spot through binoculars at the Naval Torpedo Test Range in Piney Point, MD. This building is one of the last structures from the original factory.

Less than two months after V-E Day, they built the last torpedo on June 18, 1945. Production shifted to rocket motors before the plant shuttered in June 1946.

In the 1950s, the complex converted to the U.S. Federal Records Center and stored large federal collections. Captured Nazi documents were translated from German for the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Smithsonian dinosaur bones and other oversized objects and archives were also housed here. The City of Alexandria acquired the complex in 1969.