On Architecture


Second glance: Free Bridge a design delight Published on Dec 14th, 2011 5 comments If you live or travel east of Charlottesville, you've probably driven over it hundreds, if not thousands of times without giving it a passing glance. Yet the seven-lane Free Bridge that crosses the...
Cruising Carlton: Jacobean revival, trailer parks, and towers Published on Dec 7th, 2011 1 comments Ever drive down Carlton Avenue? We did. It was never hard to miss the "Young Building" at 1102 Carlton, but now that Habitat for Humanity's transformation of the former Sunrise Trailer Park project...
Rotunda rehab: Good-bye and good-riddance to magnolias? Published on Nov 28th, 2011 10 comments As UVA gears up to begin a $4.7 million roof replacement project for the Rotunda, part of a planned $50 million restoration of Thomas Jefferson's famous centerpiece on the Lawn, a major visual...
Snap: The new Martha Jefferson Published on Nov 27th, 2011 3 comments The new 84-acre campus of Martha Jefferson Hospital gleams in the morning light of a recent autumn day, as captured by pilot-photographer Skip Degan. A year after a major merger, the venerable...
Rice Hall: UVA cuts ribbon on $65 million smart building Published on Nov 18th, 2011 2 comments UVA officials cut the ribbon Friday morning on a $65 million building that can provide real-time reports on its own utility usage while educating the next wave of brainiacs. The November 18 event...
Snooky's owner wins right to remove cedar shakes Published on Nov 17th, 2011 11 comments One of the Downtown Mall's more unusual façades may soon change, now that the Board of Architectural Review has, at its November 15 meeting, approved the removal of the expanse of cedar shakes that...
Travel plans: Will Bypass bypass peds, bikes, and transit? Published on Oct 31st, 2011 32 comments The proposed Western Bypass, the resurrected $235 million road project that will cut a 6.2-mile swath from Forest Lakes South to the North Grounds of the University of Virginia through neighborhoods...
Garrett Hall renewed as Batten School home Published on Oct 25th, 2011 0 comments With Virginia's outgoing U.S. Senator giving a kick-off speech, the University of Virginia opened its 11th school last week in a building that got a spiffy renovation that recalls its earliest days...
Woodard buildings finally getting a facelift Published on Oct 25th, 2011 0 comments What has been the Downtown's Mall's biggest pile of vacant buildings has received new attention this year, as the long-shuttered storefronts and upper-story spaces at the northeast corner of First...
$100K to burn: Donation stokes $3.7 million Lawn fireplaces Published on Oct 20th, 2011 18 comments On a chilly fall day when the temperature barely cracked the 60-degree mark, University of Virginia officials announced that there's hope for the 106 chimneys of the hallowed Lawn and Range rooms,...
Stonefield stalemate: Is the Trader Joe's design appropriate? Published on Oct 18th, 2011 32 comments While it has been impossible to miss the massive earth-moving project at the site of the future mega-commercial center known as Stonefield (previously Albemarle Place), the 65-acre village-style...
New view: Photog captures tornado-smashed 'Sylvania' from sky Published on Oct 15th, 2011 7 comments The tornado that roared through the Green Springs Historic District of triple-punched Louisa County gave Hook contributing photographer Skip Degan an opportunity to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft over...
Fraternity fall: Horrific outcome as balcony rail breaks Published on Sep 25th, 2011 10 comments The wooden railing surrounding a University of Virginia fraternity's covered concrete porch appears to have collapsed–- or at least pulled away from the surrounding columns–- under the...
Snuffed out? Fire ban puts a damper on UVA tradition Published on Sep 20th, 2011 9 comments A tradition as old as the UVA Lawn itself was recently snuffed out, at least temporarily, as University officials announced last week that students living on the Lawn and the Ranges would no longer...
Retail migration: Could Stonefield threaten Barracks? Published on Sep 13th, 2011 18 comments Last week, we looked at store vacancy data for the Downtown Mall, completed in July by the City's Office of Economic Development, but what about the City's other retail centers? And what effect might...
Mall kiosk surfaces, British Corner invasion, and is the Mall okay? Published on Sep 6th, 2011 7 comments The journey of the Downtown Mall's iconic kiosk continues. Three years ago, the City had it removed from the Mall with plans to demolish it. But after the Hook wrote about its demise, some folks...
'One man's greed' VA court decision blocks YMCA construction Published on Aug 23rd, 2011 127 comments On August 2, Piedmont YMCA CEO Denny Blank says, he was in a meeting with the contractor who was going to build the new $15 million, 72,000-square-foot YMCA facility in McIntire Park when he got the...
First view: Designers reveal look for Trader Joe's, Stonefield Published on Aug 13th, 2011 65 comments Trader Joe's, the specialty grocery chain that has caused ripples of enthusiasm over its impending arrival in Charlottesville, will present a mostly windowless expanse of stone and masonry to the...
Modern markers: History tour goes high-tech Published on Jul 27th, 2011 0 comments Our area is thick with sturdy historic makers, those grey and black signs with inlaid text explaining the brief history of a place along the roadsides or next to parking lots and buildings. But...
The Lodge: Old Trail for older folks Published on Jul 19th, 2011 17 comments Back in 2008, developer David Hilliard began his "Lodge at Old Trail" project, a senior living community in the heart of Old Trail Village in Crozet. He was hoping to create what he calls a multi-...
Powersaver: LEAP announces $10K energy makeover contest Published on Jul 19th, 2011 0 comments The Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) and UVA Community Credit Union have launched another makeover contest, and this one could win you $10,000 toward making your home more energy efficient. In...
Preservationists 'speechless': Pre-permit Ingleside demolition raises ire Published on Jul 11th, 2011 8 comments It sounds like a joke. "I tell ya, the county's historic preservation codes are so weak," the comedian says, "you can apply for a demo permit after you've demolished your old house." Bada-boom! But...
Goodbye, old manse: BOS dooms 140-year-old church building Published on Jun 29th, 2011 5 comments On April 20, the County Board of Supervisors approved the demolition of a 140-year-old church building in Keswick, a decision that would appear to run contrary to one of the goals of the County's...
JPA bridge fallout: Is Shamrock Road dangerous now? Published on Jun 20th, 2011 28 comments When Charlottesville resident Lora Kelly and her husband, Eric, purchased a house on Shamrock Road in 2009, its two lanes and mish-mash of missing stretches of sidewalk already created a fear factor...
Farewell, Tuttle House Published on Jun 19th, 2011 4 comments In the ongoing project to replace 11 residence halls built to accommodate UVA's rapid expansion in the mid-1960s, another has fallen. This time it's Tuttle House, which was completed in 1964 and...
Socialite renovates Social Hall Published on Jun 14th, 2011 12 comments Former U.S. Senator George Allen knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. The savvy former senator, who has begun campaigning for his old federal job, appears to have made a killing on "Social...
Unhipping? JPA Colonial Revival may not be revived Published on Jun 7th, 2011 5 comments Last Week, the Hook's cover story [Extreme Makeover: rich edition] showed how wealthy property owners have taken advantage of the State's generous Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program,...
Battle ready: Seven-story West Main transformation begins Published on May 24th, 2011 9 comments Seven stories right on West Main. Work has finally begun on the massive $141 million, 180,000 square-foot Battle Building at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital, which will take three...
Shovel ready: County colossus Stonefield set to rise Published on May 15th, 2011 33 comments Last week, local officials and developers lined up behind a row of golden shovels to break ground on a tract of land at the corner of Route 29 and Hydraulic Road, from which will spring a 65-acre...
Around the corner: WorldStrides set to occupy Waterhouse Published on May 13th, 2011 3 comments The cornerstone at Waterhouse– the scaled-down $20 million mixed-use complex of offices, retail space, and apartments atop a parking garage that will span a gap between West Water and South...