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 […]
Good things come in threes: primary colors, books in a trilogy and, says designer Kori Messenger, lighting. “There are three layers of lighting: ambient, accent and task lighting,” she says. “We like to see all three in a space if possible.” In a recent client’s home, Messenger and her designer partner at Foxchase Design, Nicole […]
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 […]
This month’s Abode is historic—peek inside a 19th-century farmhouse, explore an updated 1850s James River estate, find out the best way to preserve wood detailing in your home and more. Here’s what you’ll find inside: A Lewis Mountain home evolves in phases. When to restore or replace. A new Bundoran show home. A 300-acre James […]
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 […]
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 […]
Living abroad for decades gives you a special perspective on home. So does waking up every morning to a fantastic view. For one local couple, 30 years in various foreign countries was the prelude to a new chapter: retirement on a hilltop in Steeles Tavern, just a handful of miles from where the husband grew […]
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 […]
One man’s trash is another man’s funky countertop. That is, if the other man is Evolution Glass founder Bill Hess. “We take locally sourced bottle glass and transform it into amazing, blow-your-mind countertop surfaces suitable for homes and businesses,” Hess says. And he isn’t the only local creating exciting new materials that let homeowners take […]
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 […]
When it burst upon the scene five years ago, boxwood blight put a big scare into Virginia nurseries and all who love the iconic shrub, though perhaps some who scorn it for its historical associations and acrid smell would just as soon see the genus in its grave. Much like a sci-fi movie, sticky spores […]
The February issue of Abode features a historic home overlooking the James River (it once belonged to a relative of Thomas Jefferson—yes, that Thomas Jefferson!), a mix-and-match kitchen in Ivy, a primer for wallpaper and more. Here’s what you’ll find inside: A house on Riverside Avenue breaks the mold. Why wallpaper is your new best friend. […]
The idea of a “new downtown” in Crozet has been in the air for years. With the opening of Piedmont Place—a lively, mixed-use building just across the street from the Crozet Library—it is suddenly looking like a reality. “My wife Michelle and I moved to Crozet in 2011,” says developer Drew Holzwarth, who manages residential […]
It’s almost like a mini Monticello. Situated on high ground, commanding a majestic view, the house is likely close to two centuries old. With its brick foundation and chimneys, and many other classic Virginia architectural details, it looks eminently at home among the mature trees that surround it. It holds a place on the National […]
Kristi Williamson’s house in Ivy is one of those that has evolved with the times. Built in a rather rustic style in the ’80s, the original, Williamson says, has a DIY feel. “There were lots of funky doors and different kinds of trim,” she says. Subsequent owners made additions; Williamson and her husband, John, bought […]