Virginia Square is a neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia. It is centered at the Virginia Square station on the Orange Line of the Washington Metro subway system, between Clarendon and Ballston. The neighborhood consists of a mix of high-rise apartments, garden apartments, and single-family homes generally dating to the 1940s.
The Virginia Square neighborhood is home to the Arlington campus of George Mason University including its Law School, the Arlington Arts Center, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the main branch of the Arlington Public Library. The area’s name is derived from the former Virginia Square Shopping Center (now occupied mainly by a major satellite office of the FDIC with a Giant supermarket on part of the property). Among local restaurants, Mario’s Pizza has been a landmark since 1957 and El Pollo Rico since 1988.
The Virginia Square Shopping Center opened in early 1952, to complement the adjoining Kann's-Virginia store.[1] At opening, the 15-store center included a Giant supermarket, People's Drug, Fanny Farmer candy, L. Frank Co. women's apparel, Jonas men's apparel, the Bo Peep Shop, and Mary Baynes Gift Shop.[2] An F.W. Woolworth variety store also operated at the center. Following the 1975, closure of the Kann's-Virginia and Kimel's Furniture Store, the center entered into a period of decline.[3] In March 1986, the Virginia Square retail landmark Mary Baynes Gift Shop closed its doors.[4] Redevelopment of the Center, talked about for almost a decade, finally commenced in Summer 1988, when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation demolished the old center and erected a new satellite office and other buildings on the site.[5][6][7]
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