Falls Church HS’s historic mosaic will be protected during renovations
When the renovation/expansion of Falls Church High School is completed, Craig Day, the school’s resident historian, hopes the 63-year-old mosaic from the school’s earliest days will be preserved. Day, a 1977 Falls Church graduate, is also a shotput and discus coach at the school.
The 4×4-foot, green-and-white tile mosaic depicts the head of a jaguar, the school’s mascot.
The mosaic will be protected during construction, school officials promised during a community meeting on the renovation project on Nov. 13. It hasn’t been determined whether it will be relocated.
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According to an article in the Northern Virginia Sun displayed in a memorabilia case at the school, Falls Church senior and class president Richard Stipe designed the mosaic in 1961. Stipe found a tile company in New York to create the mosaic and arranged for a Georgetown company to install it.
The mosaic was embedded in the floor near the gym at the original Falls Church High School at Hillwood Avenue and Cherry Street. It was the senior class’s gift to the school; they paid $200 for the tile and $50 for the installation.
When a new Falls Church High School was built in its current location on Jaguar Trail in 1968, the mosaic was hung on a wall outside the gym. It’s still there now. Day would like to see the mosaic stay in that spot, as it is fragile and could be damaged if moved.
