On Architecture
Found: Virginia's lost communties
Published on May 10th, 2011
0 comments In the 1890s there were big plans to transform the Louisa County town of Mineral into a metropolis. Located in the so-called “gold-pyrite belt," a nine- to sixteen-mile-wide volcanic-plutonic...
SRO time: The Crossings begins its rise downtown
Published on May 3rd, 2011
26 comments The Crossings, an apartment complex designed to prevent the phenomenon of "Million Dollar Murray," has begun its rise at the corner of Preston Avenue and Fourth Street. In a 2006 New Yorker article (...
Save McIntire? YMCA suit dismissed, but fight continues
Published on Apr 27th, 2011
50 comments As the song goes, it's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. But apparently it's no picnic building one. After six years of planning, the Piedmont Family YMCA's plan for a new $15 million, 72,000-square-foot...
Stellar cellar: Keswick gets decadent at Treble
Published on Apr 13th, 2011
8 comments “I have lived temperately....I double the doctor's recommendation of a glass and a half of wine each day and even treble it with a friend.” - Thomas Jefferson Keswick Hall, the 48-room boutique hotel...
JPA bridge: Closed until September... 2012
Published on Apr 4th, 2011
46 comments The nearly 80-year-old bridge carrying Jefferson Park Avenue over the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks closed down Monday, April 4 for the first phase of the bridge's replacement. While walkers, who...
Wet zero: Worrell's wastewater gadget cleans up in SF
Published on Mar 30th, 2011
17 comments Once again, Worrell Water Technologies, the company founded by ex-Daily Progress owner Tom Worrell to develop earth-inspired wastewater re-use technologies, has sold one of its state-of-the-art...
Dust and promises: Amtrak lot finally getting paved
Published on Mar 7th, 2011
15 comments Good-bye dust devils and potholes. More than six years after the owners of Charlottesville Union Station first promised to pave the property's dusty parking lot, construction crews have finally gone...
Mall econ: Is downtown café space handed out fairly?
Published on Feb 25th, 2011
21 comments With spring just around the corner, it's time again for an annual tradition on the Downtown Mall: arguing about outdoor café space. City planners have proposed a revised ordinance to settle the issue...
New 'Skybar' restaurant coming to the Mall
Published on Feb 16th, 2011
33 comments It's been a long time coming, but it appears that Downtown landlord Gabe Silverman has finally found a long-term tenant for the old A&N building on the east end of the Mall. Alex George, former...
Wall scrawl: City censors image on free speech monument
Published on Feb 15th, 2011
103 comments Did the City recently violate the First Amendment that its own free speech monument was designed to honor? A prominent constitutional attorney thinks so.  Last week, a rather Picasso-esque image...
Incremental: Waterhouse rises, raises County ire
Published on Feb 9th, 2011
8 comments Crews erected a construction crane over Water Street on Thursday, January 20, a powerful visual symbol of the long-awaited (and scaled down) Waterhouse project, a now six-story, $20 million mixed-use...
Noon mark: Mall to get new $25,000 clock, sundial
Published on Jan 25th, 2011
80 comments Ed Smith's proposed timepiece and teaching tool. ED SMITH Back in August 2009, the City launched a design contest for the creation of a clock on the Downtown Mall that would honor Charlottesville's...
Waterhouse rises
Published on Jan 21st, 2011
11 comments The crane as seen on Friday, January 21. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR Crews erected a construction crane on Thursday, January 20, a powerful visual symbol of the long-awaited (and scaled down) Waterhouse...
Good-bye, Albemarle Place. Hello, Trader Joe's?
Published on Jan 6th, 2011
22 comments Albemarle Place has now become Stonefield, but the big vision for a commercial and residential village is still the same. RENDERING FROM EDENS & AVANT WEBSITE If you're one of those who bet that...
On Architecture: 2010 year in review- Lawn and Monticello widen, 'cabin' rises
Published on Dec 22nd, 2010
11 comments Here's the grass. But is it a 'lawn'? FILE PHOTO BY TOM DALY While private sector construction nearly ground to a standstill in 2010, thanks to that bit of trouble American banks have been having,...
Ix nixed: New location for City Market?
Published on Dec 21st, 2010
17 comments The Frank Ix Building along Monticello Avenue comes down. But what will take its place? PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR For years, the old Frank Ix building has been one of the most unusual, interesting spaces...
Fairy Castle: City still fixing 'world class' McGuffey Park
Published on Dec 14th, 2010
22 comments The slide and sandbox structure has been removed to make way for a "Fairy Castle." PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR Less than three years after McGuffey Park received a controversial $700,000 make-over, work has...
Tidal action: Living Machine system selected for US government facility
Published on Dec 6th, 2010
2 comments Rendering of the new US/Mexico border entry facility in Otay Mesa, California with an integrated Living Machine system. Site design by Design Workshop, Inc., a landscape architecture firm based in...
Wanna ride bikes? Long road for Northtown Trail
Published on Nov 30th, 2010
38 comments What a cool trail! But will it ever get built? FROM TJPDC Sometime in the future the Downtown Mall and far-away places like the Hollymead Town Center, Forest Lakes, and the Charlottesville Albemarle...
Thrusting forward: Caplins offer UVA a new theater
Published on Nov 22nd, 2010
2 comments A rendering of UVA's new Ruth Caplin Theatre. Willam Rawn Associates Last month, UVA held a ceremonial ground-breaking at the future site of the Ruth Caplin Theatre, a three hundred-seat, 20,500...
Downtown Mall West? Crozet wants to be on the map
Published on Nov 16th, 2010
30 comments Developers want to build a 20-acre 'Downtown Mall' on the J. Bruce Barnes Lumber Company site. PHOTO COURTESY J. BRUCE BARNES LUMBER COMAPNY Crozet, the small village to the west, has ambitions....
Burned and bypassed: Rock Hill has a ghost of a garden
Published on Nov 4th, 2010
6 comments Schenk's Branch fed into a gold fish pond on the Rock Hill property before the 250 By-pass cut through. PHOTO COURTESY DANIEL BLUESTONE As platoons of volunteers uncover the old bones of the Rock...
Unhidden treasure: Rock Hill estate gardens revealed
Published on Oct 11th, 2010
13 comments Some of the space was already cleared last month by volunteers. PHOTO BY BOB FENWICK The gardens of Rock Hill, a historic Park Street estate that's now the overgrown back yard of MACAA, the...
Kluge-Moses: Feng shui gets scientific at PVCC building
Published on Sep 21st, 2010
7 comments William Moses and his wife Paticia Kluge, who donated $1.2 million to the project, cut the ribbon in the building that bears their names. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR Students already taking classes at...
Downtown attire: Demo makes way for Waterhouse
Published on Sep 14th, 2010
16 comments Where we once got down–- Club 216–- will be coming down this week. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR It’s a momentous week for architect Bill Atwood. Five years after he purchased the Water Street...
Greenbacks for greenies: Finalists chosen for $10,000 makeover
Published on Sep 12th, 2010
3 comments The Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) recently selected 10 lucky finalists in their Home Energy Makeover Contest. Each finalist will receive a free home energy performance assessment, and two...
Snap: Barboursville on a hot and sunny Saturday
Published on Sep 1st, 2010
1 comments Barboursville at 12:17pm on August 28. PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER The ruins of Barboursville a neo-Palladian mansion designed by none other than Thomas Jefferson, gleam in the noonday sun last Saturday...
Living Machines in Cville? Don't poo-poo the idea
Published on Aug 30th, 2010
8 comments The Ghana delegation (Head of Warrior Group Joseph Baiden, Transport Minister Mike Hammah, and Municipal Chief Executive's Representative Godfrey Kwame Nkrumah) meets with Worrell Water Technologies...
Energy contest closing: As smart meters keep up with the Joneses
Published on Aug 2nd, 2010
7 comments With John Casteen, David Slutzky, Dave Norris, and then governor Tim Kaine looking on, Dominion boss Thomas Farrell introduces "smart meters." FILE PHOTO BY CAMERON FELLER The enrollment deadline...
Landmark saved: Bridge owner, Staunton partner on ped bridge fix
Published on Jul 29th, 2010
6 comments The bridge has provided free skyline views since 1904. PHOTO BY RACHEL OBENSCHAIN The Sears Hill bridge will be saved. On Tuesday, July 27, the fate of the historic Staunton footbridge was sealed...