There’s a mythical element to mirrors, says interior designer Alana Woerpel, that’s very intriguing. “Some cultures believe that mirrors hold powers over our souls. Hence, a vampire without a soul has no reflection,” she says. “The queen in Snow White had a magic mirror. Alice fell into an alternate world beyond the looking glass. It’s […]
You pull your juicy, flame-kissed burgers off the grill, struggle through your patio door, and let your meat rest on the kitchen counter. You head back outside. You put your buttered buns on the grill and do a 180 to give your coleslaw a final mix in the kitchen. You head back outside. You take […]
In this month’s Abode, learn about Charlottesville kit homes’ past, present and future; see why lighting is better in threes; explore an Ivy landscape that matured over 30 years and—we saved the best for last—peek inside V House, a palatial Albemarle estate designed in Jeffersonian tradition. And then some! Here’s what’s inside: A dank downtown home […]
A kitchen can get outdated while you’re looking the other way. Beth and Greg Morris built their house south of Charlottesville in 1999, and lived there for many busy years as their son was growing up. And although they made a couple of cosmetic changes to the kitchen during that time, it essentially remained the same. […]
Of course the house takes advantage of the views; on this spot, even a campsite would do that. But the formal, palatial home that Dalgliesh Gilpin Paxton Architects designed for an Albemarle hilltop is about more—much more—than what’s outside the windows. The “V House,” as it’s known, sits not only at a physical high point, […]
Thirty-six years is long enough to watch a forest grow. And it’s long enough to establish an enchanting garden beneath the tree canopy—a magical realm on what was once considered a neighborhood’s least desirable property. “It was the cheapest lot,” says Fran Boninti of the two-acre place she and her husband, Andrew, bought in 1981. […]
You wouldn’t expect a townhouse in Crozet to have an urban feel. But Ashley Jewell got a jolt of inspiration last year when she looked at a rendering of the townhouse that she and her husband, Tim, were planning to buy in the Old Trail development. Then unbuilt, the home had a long windowless wall […]
Since its construction in 1896, 1515 University Ave. has been a drugstore, a bookstore, a boarding house, the Cavalier Diner and many more incarnations. The building, which opened in mid-March, now pieces together fragments of all its previous incarnations, giving UVA students a new place on the Corner to call their home away from home. […]
A historic house on Park Street—one of the first ever built in this genteel Charlottesville neighborhood—is certainly a prize. But it comes with some baggage. When Ariana and Greyson Williams bought their home, built in the 1850s by a Virginia Supreme Court judge and listed on the National Historic Register, they knew they wanted to do […]
Immigrants and minorities struggling to buy their own homes after the turn of the century had an unlikely ally—the powerful Sears, Roebuck & Company. Sears sold mail-order kit homes and provided easy-qualification mortgages from 1908 to 1940, putting about 70,000 houses into the hands of enterprising folks looking to build their dream dwelling with their […]
Now that they’ve made it through the program, we asked a few of UVA’s architecture graduate students to tell us where they’re headed come May 21. Jennifer Hsiaw Undergraduate school/degree: U.C. Berkeley, BA Architecture; MIT, MEng Structural Engineering Graduate degree/concentration: Master of Architecture Summary of your thesis: My thesis is looking at high-tech corporate campuses […]
In a county like Albemarle, where vigorous growth routinely fills in open space with new homes, it’s reassuring to know there are still places where the opposite has happened. Wilhoit Mill Farm, near Earlysville, is one of those bucolic spots: a onetime rural village that’s less populated now than it was in the past. That’s […]
The solidity of the wide brick house off Garth Road is broken in just one place: Look in the front door, and your gaze can travel all the way through the back of the house to the distant mountains. It’s a moment in which the landscape asserts itself, thanks to the placement of a large […]
Here’s one for the dreamers: Monticola, a nearly 300-acre estate on the James River, is for sale. If you’ve never heard of Monticola, you’re not alone. Despite its rich history, it claims little fame and has never really been a public place. Now, spiffed up for a turn on the market, it’s ready for a […]
Jeff Dreyfus and Bob Headrick have always loved their house. It is a special place—very progressive when it was built in 1933, predating by decades most other local examples of modern architecture. Its International Style design is bold and crisp, built with geometric planes of white accented by black. Yet by 2002, when the couple […]
Every year since 2009, the Shelter for Help in Emergency has hosted its Design House event, taking a local home that’s on the market and transforming it with the assistance of some of Charlottesville’s best interior designers, landscape designers and local vendors. Proceeds from tours of the home benefit the nonprofit, which provides safe environments […]
What might have been Thomas Jefferson’s original vision for the Monticello rooftop railings is almost restored. Years ago, when the balustrade on TJ’s mountaintop home rotted away, it was replaced with a new design. Last year, working from paintings, sketches and notes, architectural firm Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker Architects was able to re-create the original […]
The latest issue of Abode features a Shenandoah Valley home with everything to hide, a minimalist kitchen in Albemarle, the best performance fabrics and more. Here’s what’s inside: Belmont’s newest eatery. An addition at Western Albemarle High School. Recycled countertops and—what?—wooden tiles. Performance fabrics inside the home. How to give your boxwoods the best chance […]
The secluded feel of one Albemarle home is signaled by the two large urns that flank the driveway. “It’s like you’re entering this quiet park,” says kitchen designer Karen Turner. The house itself, a low-slung dwelling that sits amongst trees, has an equally serene feel. When the owners bought the property in 2011, they knew […]
For Adam Frazier and Greg Jackson, the renovation of a one-time grocery store in the heart of downtown Belmont wasn’t just about the building itself, or the restaurant that they created there. It was also about the fabric of the neighborhood. “This is the center point of Belmont,” says Frazier, who owns The Local restaurant, […]
It’s tough to squeeze the entire planet into one classroom. But Western Albemarle High School and architects VMDO have come as close as possible with the school’s new Environmental Studies Academy building, which blends indoors and outdoors, classroom and greenhouse. On a 40-year-old Crozet campus last expanded in the ’90s, “there was just no way […]
It’s no secret that outdoor fabrics often make their way inside, too—they’re a great way to protect against spills, stains and smells and the patterns and textures are often indistinguishable from regular fabric. But, says Folly co-owner Victoria Pouncey, occasionally the right textile for the space just isn’t available. Enter performance fabrics. “[They] are essentially […]
It’s not exactly a jungle out there. But if you’re buying a house, you do need to think like a tiger, and get ready to pounce. Recent data about local real estate shows a market that’s heating up. The fourth-quarter report from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors says that things are looking brisk both […]