Earlier this week, the District broke ground on the modernization of Cardozo High School in Columbia Heights. Today, it’s Dunbar High School’s turn.

The hulking structure of a school located along New Jersey Avenue NW is slated for a $122 million, year-and-a-half long modernization that will see the existing building that houses the school demolished and a new light-filled alternative take its place. (An image of the new building is above; more renderings can be viewed here.)

This won’t be the first time that Dunbar has experienced a wholesale demolition. After the District’s schools were desegregated in the 1950s, the original building — which had been completed in 1917 — was knocked down and replaced with what students use today. Much like H.D. Woodson High School, which underwent its own recent modernization, the Dunbar of today has been called an educational “prison.”

That Dunbar and Cardozo are undergoing modernizations at the same time is relevant for more than just timing. When Cardozo was built as Central High School in 1916, its student body was limited to white students. Dunbar, which was constructed at the same time, was set aside for African American students.

Mayor Vince Gray will be on hand for this morning’s groundbreaking. That makes sense — he’s a Dunbar grad.