Transforming the building that now houses Patisserie Torres was “almost like an archaeological dig,” says architect David Timmerman with BRW Architects. It was a yearlong process just to renovate the exterior of the 1820s building on the corner of Third Street NE and the Downtown Mall—a building that has seen its share of change and […]
Barbara Stettner grew up in the wine country of northern California, but she’d been in Virginia for 15 years before she found her weekend place in Sperryville. “It’s sort of like the coastal mountains [in California],” she says, looking toward the layered Blue Ridge views. In 2011, when she and her husband, Michael Ewen, bought […]
Over about a dozen years of living in their home on an Albemarle byway, the couple saw many changes. Their twin sons grew from age 5 to nearly 18, and the family’s use of spaces in the house changed along with the boys. More houses were built along their stretch of rural byway. And the […]
Tonda and Mark Morriss had renovated several houses before, and they swore they were done with all that. They also thought they would downsize when they moved from Texas five years ago to be near their daughter and her family—they dreamed of a one-level house with less property to care for. “We did the opposite,” […]
When Charles D’Angelo, managing director of D.C.-based Westmount Capital Group, first saw the Clifton Inn and its surrounding countryside, his initial thought was, “Wow.” “It’s a stunning property, from the 19-acre lake and Blue Ridge mountain views to the infinity pool with the canopy of trees overhead,” says D’Angelo. As a business enterprise, however, the […]
Katherine Kane had always imagined a greenhouse in a certain spot at her magnificent garden at Waterperry Farm in western Albemarle. And not just for sheltering plants. “There are two kinds of greenhouses,” says architect Jeff Bushman, who customized the kit that Kane bought from the English company Alitex. “There are purely service buildings, and […]
Tucked behind a 1920s-era house on a small Belmont lot lies a modern wonder: a water garden oasis featuring ornamental plantings, a raised deck surrounded by a black slate patio, a hand-carved fire pit and a mountainous stone structure from which a waterfall cascades gently into a tiered, purling river. The landscape plan was dreamed […]
The house that Stacey Evans and John Grant share has been his home for 35 years; hers, for 10. It’s a pleasant, unpretentious place with a private backyard where the couple enjoys growing flowers and watching birds. For a long time they’d been living with a small, traditional kitchen that, while it overlooked the gardens, […]
The first time she saw her house, no one lived there and the doors were not even locked. For years, its previous owner had held onto it, not yet ready to sell. But in a stroke of good timing, just when the current owner got interested, the house became available—something of a rarity in this […]
Agarden’s appearance depends on its purpose, says Marlene Condon, and sometimes messier is better. “Aesthetics for me are secondary,” she says. “The most important thing is the quality of the habitat for wildlife.” Condon is a Virginia-based nature writer and photographer who has penned columns for the Daily Progress and Crozet Gazette, written for C-VILLE […]
There are as many ways to garden as there are ways to cook. Some folks plant neat rows of vegetables; others create geometric arrangements of herbs. Traditional ornamental gardens in our part of the world might feature forsythia, crepe myrtle and daffodils—plants that originate in Asia, Europe and other faraway places. But for gardeners sensitive […]
Though they’ve been around since the 18th century, painted floors (when done right) can be nostalgic, practical and surprisingly modern, says designer Franny Hurt. Back then, they were used in everything from modest farmhouses to Victorian mansions, helping to protect hardwoods before modern sealant was developed. Now they’re more multipurpose, used as a temporary (and […]
When your property overlooks the Moorman’s River, miles of verdant fields and finally the Blue Ridge Mountains, it seems obvious that the view is a primary attraction. Yet when one couple bought a Western Albemarle house in 2000, its siting and design didn’t do as much as they could have to connect occupants to the […]
Three decades in one house makes some people set in their ways, but, for others, it ends with an abrupt change. Tom and Carolyn Frazier had lived in Northern Virginia in a “typical, traditional D.C. house,” says Carolyn, and when they reached retirement they were ready for something “totally different. We wanted something modern and […]
“The pleasantest smell in the world,” wrote natural historian Robert Beverly of the Sweetbay magnolia in 1705, and its large, creamy white flowers are just as striking. Associated with nobility and perseverance, the more than 200 species of magnolia vie with dogwood, crepe myrtle, azaleas and camellias for the American South’s favorite plant. Thomas Jefferson […]
Coming from Chicago, Albemarle County can seem like a different world. When Rebekah and Adam Goldberg were hunting for a local house to buy in 2014, they were trying to strike a balance between rural bliss and the neighborhood feel they were used to. “Adam wanted land and privacy,” says Rebekah. “I also like to […]
The house enjoys an extraordinary location, overlooking miles of Albemarle countryside from a high mountainside perch. Throughout the day the sun makes its crossing from east to west across a wide expanse of sky, while fields and woods unroll below for what seems like forever. When the present owners came here in 1996, they loved […]
When Lincoln Perry lived in a house on Altamont Circle, he would crawl up to the roof of the Altamont apartment building to get a good view of the North Downtown neighborhood’s brick houses and church steeples for some of his paintings, including the one shown here. This painting is part of a series that […]
It’s a sign of a Charlottesville that’s growing and changing. On a site on East High Street, where once stood two small single-family houses, architect and developer Richard Price is creating a cluster of modern buildings to provide “medium-density” working and living space. At the moment, much of the project is yet to be built—but […]
My circle of acquaintances happily includes many who make their lives in horticulture. Their answers to my idle query, “What is your favorite tool?” ranged from humorous—a professional gardener, 5-gallon bucket and a radio—to the obscure, among them the intriguing swan hoe, an ingenious asparagus knife with scuffle attachment and a number of beloved Japanese […]
One of the most iconic images from the classic holiday film A Christmas Story is the fishnet stocking- and black stiletto-clad leg lamp that causes quite a stir when Ralphie’s dad, Mr. Parker, displays it in the front window of his home at Christmastime. With its fringe-trimmed shade reminiscent of a can-can dancer’s skirt, the […]
Finding a house in downtown Charlottesville isn’t easy, but Kate Stephenson managed to do it when she spotted a commercial space for sale just north of the Downtown Mall. Like many onetime residences, the brick building had been serving for decades as offices. When she first walked in, Stephenson definitely noticed a “law-office” look—acoustic tile […]
Don’t call Brian and Andrea Hubbell flippers. Even though they admit what they’re doing sounds a lot like that, the husband-and-wife team behind HubbHouse think they can come up with a better term, one that conveys their more thoughtful approach. “We’re definitely not a quick-flip company,” says Brian. “Quality is really important and the process […]