Editor’s note: Beginning this month, each issue of Abode will include a column written by a graduate student at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, providing a glimpse into the considerations of the next generation of architects. The world is entangled in complex sets of relationships and nothing is what it seems. Design disciplines […]
Just as a home has a history, so, too, does a landscape. Only, a landscape’s story, as Mary Wolf attests, is multilayered. Take, for instance, her grandmother’s property, a Civil War battlefield site where she spent her weekends growing up. The appeal of that spot of land—that it connected our national, geological and human history […]
A lovely view is lovely, but a spectacular one might be life-changing. Think we exaggerate? Get ye to Elk Mountain Road in Afton on a clear day, and feast your eyes on the kind of vista that can truly alter your outlook. Number 885, which faces east from a lot just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, […]
Until the equinox on September 21, we bask in late, late summer. Walnut leaves are yellowing, black gums turn scarlet at the edge of the woods and the soil is warm as a sunny lake on Labor Day, more hospitable to root growth than the cold clay of March. Ample rainfall makes for ideal conditions […]
Ten Flavors, a co-op that includes 11 mostly design-related businesses, has been around for about 35 years. Members have come and gone, and the co-op has moved offices several times, always on the Downtown Mall. But Jim Gibson, a longtime co-op member, says the Ten Flavors folks really, really liked their last home, a high-ceilinged […]
Designer Alana Woerpel says she’ll tackle anything. When asked what she’s afraid to DIY, she says there isn’t anything she won’t do. “On my most recent whole-house installation I found myself re-installing ill-fitting toilet seats for the client,” she says. The can-do attitude (not to mention good taste) pays off—her work has been featured in […]
They say the human body loses most of its heat through the head. So when it’s cold out, you put a hat on. Before winter approaches (or even autumn!), invest in a hat for your house. According to Austin Craig, sales consultant for Davenport Insulation, attic insulation is critical to maintaining a constant temperature in […]
This place looks nothing like a hay barn. Yet there was a time, at some point in the early 20th century, when the Somerset farmhouse now belonging to David and Sissy Perdue was in fact used to store hay. Built in the 1880s as a two-over-two home for a family of chicken farmers, the house […]
The weekend home of a Washington, D.C., couple sits not quite in the middle of their 76-acre property north of Charlottesville. They didn’t choose the most lofty site for their cottage, but instead gravitated toward a spot that snuggles into a treeline and offers a broad, rolling view of fields and woods. “This was our […]
In a way, one might say Jessie Chapman is getting back to basics. While many architects have gotten out of the practice of sketching their designs as the use of computers becomes more prevalent (and more time-effective), she prefers to put pen to paper. She says it helps her see more carefully. “When you draw […]
When Vinegar Hill Theatre closed its doors in 2013 after 37 years of showing independent films, many cinephiles in Charlottesville mourned its loss. So when the downtown building became the home of Light House Studio in May 2015, says Light House’s Brooks Wellmon, “There was a ton of community interest in preserving the theater.” Light […]
You want a porch. But you’re afraid of commitment. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with a whole deck hanging off the front of your house? Getting cold feet is understandable. Perhaps a portico is more your speed. “Generally I think of a portico as purely shelter for a doorway, […]
The first very important question for would-be buyers of 622 Watson Ave. is this: How much imagination do you have? The question is key because the house, a 1930 foursquare, is ripe for a reno. It’s one of the older houses on the street, and in general it’s not the handsomest feller at the hoedown. […]
Designer Ann Nicholson admits she borrows inspiration from unlikely places—Edgemont, a historic Albemarle residence possibly designed by Thomas Jefferson; a pool house in the Hamptons belonging to designer Tory Burch. But the pool at Lowfields Farm in Fluvanna, where she resides with her husband? That was all her. Installed by Charlottesville Aquatics, the double lap […]
A tour of Lynn Easton’s home (inside and outside), a chat with Bob Paxton, a look at solar paneling—the July issue of Abode is on stands now. Here’s what’s inside: Bob Paxton‘s early influences. A place in the sun—you can afford it! A modern log cabin with room for improvement. Nancy Wardle takes inspiration from […]
The old saw about real estate—“location, location, location”—also sums up what Dean Andrews and Lynn Easton Andrews appreciate about their house. They love the neighborhood, Lewis Mountain; they love the landscape that surrounds their home; and they love the spot it occupies in Charlottesville history. “We are crazy for it,” says Lynn. That’s not to […]
We’re conditioned to think certain thoughts when we see a log house: wilderness, rugged individualism and bootstraps by which someone is ascending. Yet it’s been a long time since hardy frontier settlers constructed theirs from fresh-felled trees. We never see cabins in cities, but that’s just a convention at this point—modern log homes can be […]
![Designer Nancy Wardle says her favorite room in her house is the den. "[It's] where I enjoy relaxing and [where] I used my favorite colors." Photo: Amy Jackson](https://www.c-ville.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Nancy-Wardle_A.Jackson-320x170.jpg)
From her childhood, spent in places like Peru and Venezuela, to adulthood, interior designer Nancy Wardle has spent a lifetime soaking in the riches of travel and allowing those disparate adventures to spark her creativity. “The abundance of art in Peru including silver and goldsmiths, alpaca weavers and woodcarvers, the quality of the fabrics produced […]
With a body of work comprising Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, the Virginia Governor’s Mansion, the Lincoln Memorial and various estates, the intent of renowned architect and preservationist Milton Grigg when he began his Charlottesville firm in 1933 was clear: Create structures that are both beautiful and long-lasting. Architect Bob Paxton is one of three principals currently […]
Open concept, urban lots, a 5,000-square-foot weekend home and more, all in this month’s issue of Abode. On stands now! Keith Scott‘s design influences. Agnor-Hurt’s multi-age learning space. The open concept tide is still high. Kathy Heiner‘s favorite things. How to buy land in the city. Thank heaven for hell strips. This month’s featured home: […]
When Jim Burton began designing a weekend home for Burton and Yardly Gray, he took a cue from the direction they’d be traveling to reach the house from their primary home in Washington, D.C. The getaway would be an hour and a half south, and a world apart from the city. Its site, overlooking a […]
Scrolling lazily through the MLS, looking for a vacant city lot on which to build your dream home? You can scroll to your heart’s content, but you’re not too likely to nab your quarry. “They don’t come on the market very often at all, but when decent lots do come on the market, they’re gone […]
Waves move in cycles. If you want to know the status of the open concept trend among homeowners, that’s pretty much all you need to know, according to Robert Nichols of Formwork Architecture. “There are almost always cycles, and there are subwaves too,” he says. “Some hybrids start to get developed. I kind of feel […]