Green-thumb special: Replanting irises, preserving herbs & more Inside. Outside. Home. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
Instant classic Kick off your shoes: Our cover home is all about casual elegance
URBAN DREAMERS
We talk with the architect and developers of Six Hundred West Main
LOGGING OUT
The art of porch sitting, lessons from master orchid growers, and a city bathroom with glass walls and a view (ooh la la!)
A local photographer reflects on 20 years in her idyllic cabin
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C-VILLE ABODE
Justin H. Wiley
Peter A. Wiley
434.981.5528 justin@wileyproperty.com
434.422.2090 peter@wileyproperty.com
132A East Main Street • Orange, VA 22960
503 Faulconer Drive, Suite 6 • Charlottesville, VA 22903
MANOR HOME IN NORTH GARDEN
PRIVATE SETTING IN TOWN
LAUREL RIDGE - English country manor home on 99+/- acres designed by renowned architect & built by highly respected contractor. Located amongst large, protected estates in the North Garden area of Albemarle Co. just 20 min. from town. Property also has a swimming pool, storage barn, kennel & workshop. House is in very good condition & the kitchen was recently redone. Completely private setting. MLS# 558793 • $995,000
TALLY HO DRIVE - Meticulously renovated one-level home in sought-after Colthurst neighborhood. Beautiful design elements including marble counters and hardwood floors throughout. Elegantly proportioned rooms with a large master suite. Private setting close to Barracks Road and UVA. Solid construction with brick exterior makes this home easy to maintain. Perfect as a main residence or second home. Convenience and ease with the tranquility that Colthurst is known for. 2-car garage and expansive lawn on a quiet street. MLS# 592676 • $895,000
Justin H. Wiley – 434.981.5528
Peter A. Wiley – 434.422.2090
ELEGANT KESWICK ESTATE
RIVER FRONTAGE AND BLUE RIDGE VIEWS
AIRSLIE - Landmark country estate located in the beautiful Keswick hunt area of Albemarle Co. House was completely renovated in the early 1990's using only the finest materials & craftsmen. The surrounding 324+/- acres further compliment the house and allows the property complete privacy. The estate has many improvements including 4 tenant/guest cottages, stable complex & cattle barn. Property has numerous rolling pastures that are fenced w/ board & wire. Price upon Request. MLS# 496122
RIVER ROCK FARM - A beautiful farm with long frontage on the Lynch River and great views of the Blue Ridge. The main residence was custom built with reclaimed materials, native fieldstone and on-site milled oak counters. Sited for complete privacy, the home, a copper system pool and pool house enjoy beautiful views of the Blue Ridge. Pastures and a barn complex with riding trails, guest cottage/rental round complete this offering. High speed internet available. MLS# 588685 • $1,400,000
Justin H. Wiley – 434.981.5528
Peter A. Wiley – 434.422.2090
BLUE RIDGE VIEWS IN SOMERSET
EXPANSIVE MOUNTAIN VIEWS
ELIJAH CRAIG - 113 +/- acres of mostly open meadows with stunning Blue Ridge Mountain views located in the heart of the Somerset area of Orange County. Surrounded by large estates and protected by a conservation easement ensures that this parcel will keep its current view shed. Ideal for horses or livestock. Property also has a cottage suitable for tenant or guest. Price upon request.
ELK ROCK MEADOW - Blazing fast internet on top of the Blue Ridge. Breathtaking views over Rockfish and Shenandoah Valleys with an easy commute to Crozet and Charlottesville. Hikers paradise; steps from the Appalachian trail and convenient to wineries, breweries and the amenities and natural beauty Rt 151, Crozet, Wintergreen and the Valley have to offer. Additional home sites available ranging from 2.38 acres to 8.96 acres. Pricing from $193,000 to $292,500. MLS# 585925 • $256,500
Justin H. Wiley – 434.981.5528
Peter A. Wiley – 434.422.2090
W W W.W I L E Y P R O P E R T Y.C O M
C-VILLE ABODE
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503 Faulconer Drive Charlottesville ¡ VA ¡ 22903 p: 434.295.1131 f: 434.293.7377 e: homes@mcleanfaulconer.com
MCL EAN FAULCONER INC. Farm, Estate and Residential Brokers
BELLAIR
Immaculate c. 1955 5 BR, 5.5 BA home on outstanding lot overlooking lake and Birdwood Golf Course being 1 of only 2 houses having expansive views of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th holes on the course. Spacious master suite, generous public spaces, kitchen, and family rec room. Outstanding outdoor spaces with patio, screened porch, over-sized 2-car garage and more. MLS#592058 $1,945,000 Steve McLean, 434.981.1863
LEWIS MOUNTAIN ROAD
Classic University house located near UVA grounds. 2-story stucco features multiple builtins, FP, wood floors, formal LR, DR, den, 4 BR & 2 full BA, all on a terrific large lot. MLS#592623 $649,000 Tim Michel, 434.960.1124
MECHUNK CREEK FARM
NORTH DOWNTOWN
Between Park St. and 2nd St. NE., a most walkable City location. Rarely offered for sale, this home has been updated and impeccably maintained. MLS#591271 $1,749,000 Dora Conway, 434-825-5742
IVY
5-bedroom brick residence minutes west of town and UVA. Inviting floor plan with flexible living space. Grounds are attractively landscaped with mature trees and gardens. MLS#591709 $1,445,000 C. Dammann, 434.981.1250
R ED
U
C
PRAKASH PATEL
ED
216 private Keswick acres, 10 miles from town. Traditional c. 1910 home, 5-BR, completely modernized. 23-stall stable, large equipment barn, 2 lakes. PRIVATE AND CLOSE. MLS#590458 $3,200,000 Jim Faulconer, 434.981.0076.
RUGBY ROAD
Attractive 5-bedroom home, walking distance to UVA & Downtown. Features a kitchen with soapstone counters, a family room with a fireplace, and hardwood flooring. MLS#589351 $1,285,000 Steve McLean, 434.981.1863
NORTHFIELDS
6-BR brick home on 1.87 park-like acres featuring excellent flow throughout its many spacious rooms. Amenities include library/study, 3rd-floor vaulted ceiling room & 3-car garage. MLS#589715 $1,685,000 C. Dammann, 434.981.1250
EDNAM
Quality-built home priced to sell below tax assessment value!!! 3-level brick home, 5 BR, 4 full BA, main-level master suite. Walking distance of renovated Boars Head Resort. MLS#591365 $785,000 Jim Faulconer, 434.981.0076
THE COTTAGE
RENOVATED FARMHOUSE
Circa 1800 on 1.17 acres near Earlysville, enlarged and extensively improved retaining charm and character of antique home. Lovely tranquil space, but close to shopping. MLS#592039 $519,000 Jim Faulconer, 434.981.0076
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Charming 1930s cottage has been recently doubled in size, creating a stunning 3000+ sq ft residence in the heart of Keswick. New living room with beamed vaulted ceiling, chefs kitchen,dining room, 3 ensuite bedrooms. Outside is a comfortable porch with stone fireplace and views of immediate patio, gardens, and, in the distance, the historic Southwest Mountains. MLS#593426 $1,295,000 Charlotte Dammann, 434.981.1250
WWW.MCLEANFAULCONER.COM
C-VILLE ABODE
The beauty of duality One of the striking things about the Charlottesville area is how quickly it changes character as you drive out of town and into the countryside. The contrast between urban and rural is perhaps more striking today than it’s ever been, as the core of the city densifies and the hardwood forests, white-fenced pastures, and storybook horse farms stand still in time. Heavy development dominates much of Route 29 north, of course. But 10 minutes behind the wheel in any other direction can transport you from one world to another. Generally speaking, people mentally resist and tend to grumble about development, whether it’s downtown or on a hilltop in Free Union. Not to get all Zen about it, but I think a less taxing emotional path is to merely observe the changes—or even celebrate the dichotomy. IN THIS ISSUE In this issue of Abode, you’ll hear from the architect and developers of the boldly designed Six Hundred West Main apartment building (“Main Street grows up,” p. 15). When it’s complete, later this year, it’ll be unlike anything Charlottesville has seen before. The L-shaped structure with cubistic, dark metal cladding climbs six stories and wraps around the renovated Blue Moon Diner and another streetfront building with a 19th-century façade. If you’re nostalgic for a quaint Main Street with homogenous three-story brick structures, the new building will disappoint you. But I must admit that I find it invigorating. There’s an undeniable energy that arises from the friction between this rather iconic piece of architecture and the older buildings facing Main. Meanwhile, a mere eight miles away, in Keswick, a log What’s the secret to constructing a country house that cabin held together with wooden pegs and daubing sits in feels homey and inviting, and yet also urbane and a grove of towering oak trees (“Logging out,” p. 42). It was glamorous? Discerning clients, intense attention to detail, the home for more than 20 years of a well-known local and a prevailing spirit of collaboration. Bushman Dreyfus photographer. She lived there with her beloved dogs— Architects ticked all of these boxes to create an instant classic on a hilltop in Free Union. Deep bow to interior with the occasional visit from a bear or a fox—in a haven designer Alana Woerpel of Alana’s LTD, landscape architect of solitude and quiet (except when acorns pelted the Anne Pray of Pray Design Associates, contractor Justin copper roof). Built in the 1932, the cabin also has a powerful Walton of Element Construction, and BD designer Erin Dorr. presence and its own iconography, namely, that of early Sometimes, it takes a village to make a home. 20th-century rural America. You may long to live in a log cabin, and loathe the construction of a high-tech, 53-unit apartment building— Photographer and dog lover Lynne Brubaker lived for or vice versa. Another option would be to shift into more than two decades in the peaceful seclusion of neutral and separately appraise their aesthetic and an historic log cabin in Keswick. Having made the difficult cultural value. Personally, I’m glad to know that they exist decision to leave her nest in the woods, she invites in such close proximity. Together, they help to define Abode inside for a look around and reminisces about her BriCharlottesville’s identity.—Joe Bargmann one-of-a-kind home.
Team building 30
Logging out 40
308 E. Main St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 817-2749 n c-ville.com c-ville.com/abode C-VILLE ABODE
ABODE, a supplement to C-VILLE Weekly, is distributed in Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the Shenandoah Valley. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Editor Laura Longhine. Abode Editor Joe Bargmann. Copy Editor Susan Sorensen. Creative Director Bill LeSueur. Editorial Designer Max March Graphic Designers Tracy Federico, Lorena Perez. Account Executives Lisa Hurdle, Gabby Kirk, Theressa Leak, Chris Till, Beth Wood. Production Coordinator Faith Gibson. Publisher Aimee Atteberry. Chief Financial Officer Debbie Miller. Marketing Manager Anna Harrison. A/R Specialist Nanci Winter. Circulation Manager Billy Dempsey. ©2019 C-VILLE Weekly.
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BLUEPRINT 9
Enduring blooms In the greenhouse with orchid masters Janet Cherchuck and Steve Shifflett.
Preserve your herbs 13 5 ways to capture the fresh flavors as growing season ends.
Main Street grows up 15 Developer Jeff Levien and his artist/designer wife Ivy Naté share their vision for a more urban Charlottesville.
Outside in 21 A clever renovation lends a natural feel to the bathroom of a city home.
Divide and conquer 23 How to make your irises thrive with a fall replanting.
Events 25 Landscape tours, a big bash at Monticello, butterflies, and more. LAST LOOK 46
On the porch Erika Howsare on the pleasure and importance of a front porch.
Cover photo by Stephen Barling. Comments? E-mail us at abode@c-ville.com.
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Enduring blooms C-VILLE ABODE
Gordonsville’s Floradise is an orchid lover’s paradise By Erin O’Hare 9
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So, you want to grow an orchid... Janet Cherchuck and Steve Shifflett of Floradise Orchids can help you with that, but first, they’ll need to know: Which orchid do you want to grow? Because ultimately, the kind of care an orchid needs depends on the kind of orchid in your care. Orchids are essentially immortal when properly JOHN ROBINSON
tended, says Cherchuck, but that doesn’t mean they won’t die if neglected (or poorly bred, like many non-green-
Steve Shifflett displays a young star orchid (left). A ladyslipper’s bloom flashes an impressive mustache (top right). The orange dendrobium (lower right) is one of 1,800 species in the genus. Shifflett and his wife, Janet Cherchuck, share a head-spinning knowledge of orchids that makes Floradise a rarefied experience.
house orchids out there).
aunter through the Floradise Orchids greenhouse, the sound of Puccini mingling with the scent of soil and vanilla in the air, and Janet Cherchuck and Steve Shifflett will happily tell you a tale. They’ve got thousands of ’em, one for every orchid in the place. There are Masdevallias, with their blooms like pointy, upside-down hearts—lipstick red, saffron yellow, tangerine orange—high-altitude orchids native to Central and South America. Certain Masdevallia species grow at Machu Picchu. There’s the 1869 orchid, its white and maroon bloom bulbous and waxy, a division of the first man-made lady slipper hybrid, which won an award from the Royal Horticultural Society. There are dozens of wee little baby orchids no bigger than a pinky fingernail, tiny green leaves and tiny silvery roots clinging to small slabs of craggy cork hooked to a trellis. There are orchids so young, they have not yet produced their first bloom (which can take from two years to two decades, depending on the species). That Cherchuck and Shifflett are expert orchid raconteurs is only appropriate: Floradise has its roots in a book. While studying horticulture at the University of Maryland, Shifflett bought Harry Britton’s Orchids You Can Grow for $5 at a used book store. Britton’s book was more than an orchid growing guide and reference book. It brought orchids to life, vividly discussing the individual species, the places they’re native to (orchids grow everywhere, even on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island), who discovered or cultivated them, and more. It made Shifflett feel like he was traveling the world. He went out and got some orchids of his own.
choosing the right bloom.
S
C-VILLE ABODE
Shifflett and Cherchuck opened Floradise, located on Route 15 in Gordonsville, in the winter of 1978-79. They’ve had some of the plants in the greenhouse—like the bitty orchid that’s constantly flowering, with orange Creamsiclehued blooms smaller than a freckle—since the beginning. Floradise specializes in cultivating and arranging tropical orchids (plus succulents and cacti), and Cherchuck and Shifflett happily advise on which ones might best suit a customer’s taste, lifestyle, home or office environment, and budget (well-bred orchids are not cheap). They’ll consult on proper watering, repotting, relocating, and fertilizing methods. By the end of a greenhouse visit or phone call, customers will know where their orchid’s coming from and, with the proper care, where it will go. Cherchuck and Shifflett’s shared passion for—and headspinning knowledge of—these plants is what makes shopping at Floradise an experience altogether different from your run-of-the-mill supermarket orchid purchase. And with tens of thousands of types of known orchids out there, Cherchuck and Shifflett have constant fodder for enchanting not only greenhouse visitors, but themselves. See these long strings coming off each flower? Nectar spurs, explains Cherchuck. This orchid’s from Madagascar. It’s white, fragrant at night, and in its natural habitat pollinated by a particular type of moth whose tongue is long enough to get nectar out of the long spurs (at Floradise, Cherchuck and Shifflett do the pollinating by hand). Because moths are mostly nocturnal, color would go to waste, as would daytime fragrance, Cherchuck explains, a smile spreading across her face as she leans in for a closer look at the plant she already knows so well. “It’s just all beautifully designed,” she says with a sigh.
The best thing you can do is ask an expert for help Be honest about the type of environment that orchid would be in (Is the room shady? Sunny? Humid? Dry?), and how committed you are to watering and feeding your plant so that it may continue to grow and bloom for many years. Growing orchids isn’t for everyone, say Cherchuck and Shifflett. And if it’s not your thing, that’s a-okay. Plucking a warehousebred $20 Phalaenopsis from a table at the supermarket and watering it occasionally will give you a good show for a couple of months. The plant may or may not live beyond that bloom, and you should just make peace with that, because it’s still a much better value than any cut flower arrangement out there.—E.O.
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C-VILLE ABODE
B L U E P R I N T
Preserve your herbs 5 ways to capture the fresh flavors before winter sets in By Erika Howsare
“A
n herb is a weed you can eat,” goes one oft-quoted line. If your herb garden is bountiful—or if you’re tempted by fragrant bundles at the farmer’s market—early fall is a good chance to preserve these beautiful weeds before they go dormant. We asked Katherine Herman, who makes all kinds of products with the herbs she grows at Gathered Threads Farm in Nelson County, for some ideas on how to use them while you still can.
Freeze pesto. Nothing could be simpler than throwing some basil, garlic and oil in a food processor, then freezing the mixture in an ice cube tray or freezer bag. Herman recommends waiting until you’re ready to use the pesto to add C-VILLE ABODE
nuts and cheese—this way, you have the option of just adding what you froze as-is to a soup or pasta sauce.
Make herbal vinegars. Using vinegar of the apple-cider or white-wine variety, blend in a food processor with enough fresh tarragon, lavender, basil, thyme, or anise hyssop to make a thick syrup or paste. Add this to a large jar of vinegar, and refrigerate.
Infuse honey. “For these, I tend to use dry herbs, or wilt the herbs to reduce moisture content and prevent mold,” says Herman.
Make a syrup. Herman makes elderberry concentrate by infusing the berries in water over-
night, then cooking the mixture until it’s reduced by half. She freezes this in 4- to 6-oz. portions, which she warms and mixes with honey when someone in her family needs an immunity boost. Elderberry syrup can also be spiced with cinnamon or fennel to use in mixed drinks.
Dry them in bundles. It can be tricky to dry herbs in our humid climate if you don’t have a dehydrator, but Herman says small home-use models aren’t expensive and can really help out if you want to make your own spice blends or herbal teas. One of her blends contains sea salt (a great preservative in itself) along with lavender and lemon basil, dried lemon pulp, and lemon zest. Delish. 13
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SIX HUNDRED WEST MAIN
B L U E P R I N T
The six-story building at 600 W. Main St., which wraps around the Blue Moon Diner, is due to open in September.
Main Street grows up
A New York developer and his artist wife share their vision for a more urban Charlottesville
T
he homepage for the New York City cafe and lounge DT•UT features a stark black-and-white storefront photograph that brings to mind similar shots of CBGB, the iconic rock club. DT•UT is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and CBGB was down on the Bowery. DT•UT—downtown-uptown, get it? Subtlety isn’t a virtue in marketing and branding. Ivy Levien, whose nom d’artiste is Ivy Naté, dreamed up and launched DT•UT. She’s a designer, entrepreneur, and the wife and creative partner of Jeff Levien, a big-time real-estate developer ($3.5 billion in “deals transacted,” according to his bio). She likes temporary tattoos, laughs loudly, wears big black boots with platform soles, and fusses a lot with her long dark hair. Like his wife, Jeff is a New Yorker and a full-on kind of person. Unlike his wife, he has a shaved head. He’s an adjunct professor at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, philanthropist, attorney, private equity fund manager, mortgage banker, “and, yes, even [a] performing comedian,” his bio says. You might ask: Why all this? Why do these personal details pertain to the sleek, 53-unit C-VILLE ABODE
apartment building under construction at 600 W. Main St.? Because Ivy and Jeff—the project’s interior designer and developer, respectively—say so. Because they say they wanted to imbue the structure with personality. Specifically, Ivy’s personality, according to Ivy herself. “This building has become me,” Ivy says. “It’s thoughtful, respectful. It has a lot of integrity. It’s a leader. It has an edge to it. But it’s kind of funny and quirky. It’s unique. And a little bit rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what drives me.” Funny and quirky, like the publicity photo for Six Hundred West Main (the building’s official name), showing Ivy sitting on a diner counter holding a bottle of Jack Daniel’s between her legs and tilting back a shot, while Jeff gazes up at her and, apparently distracted, dispenses a stream of way too much sugar into his speckleware coffee cup. Unique, like the proposed mural—by South African artist Faith XLVII—that’s part of the Six Hundred development. Ivy worked with the Charlottesville Mural Project to commission the impressive artwork.
On a sunny day in May, in the office of Jeff Dreyfus of Bushman Dreyfus Architects, Ivy and the two Jeffs discussed the ambitious project, which will change the face of West Main Street, bringing greater density, fresh style, and a dose of New York attitude.—Joe Bargmann Abode: Jeff and Ivy, you moved here from New York and now split your time between the two cities. How did you choose Charlottesville? Jeff Levien: It started as a personal journey. Seven, eight years ago, Ivy and I were living in the suburbs of New York City. The suburbs were not for us, and definitely not for Ivy—she’s an artist. And it just gets very singular in the suburbs. Ivy Naté: It was not one of the highlights of my life. (laughs) Jeff L.: We wanted to change our life. We wondered, after our son graduates high school, what do we want to do? Where do we want to live? What are our objectives in life? CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
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Jeff L: That was to redo the cabin. It was a natural progression to stay with him on the larger projects.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15
Ivy: That was seven years ago. Jeff L.: And Ivy thought, this city needs a boutique hotel. There was a skeleton on the mall [then the Landmark Hotel]. But they weren’t sellers and that was tied up in its own thing. When we lived in New York, in the city, Ivy had started this hip café and lounge called DT•UT, bringing some of the feel and the concepts of downtown, uptown. We wanted to bring that feel, a different feel, to Charlottesville. Someone showed us this site [the Blue Moon Diner]. We really didn’t think it worked for a hotel, but neither did I think it was big enough to build residential. So, we were able to acquire some adjacent land, which enabled us to build Six Hundred. In my mind, that’s why Charlottesville worked. We also had a 36-acre farm in North Garden, with a 1700s log cabin that we refurbished. Ivy: With Bushman and Dreyfus. Jeff L: Which is how we met Jeff [Dreyfus]. And he won an award for that. What was that? Best renovation? Jeff Dreyfus: Best renovation, I believe—officially, the AIA Virginia Award of Merit. Jeff L.: From a business perspective, Charlottesville had all the fundamentals. It had culture. It had an educational base. It had a business base, you know, like Northrup Grumman, somewhat tied to government. So, it wasn’t subject to the big economic fluctuations that you see in other cities, small or large. And the other thing that was interesting to me was that no one here really builds market-rate residential. Why do you think that’s the case? Jeff L.: There’s a propensity to do student houses or just put up your next 50 hotel rooms. I use ‘hotel’ loosely, because it’s a lot of Marriott/Fairfield Inn, and it’s servicing a certain community. But the residential housing stock was old. City Walk, at the time, was just being built. But there was no real dense, urban, multi-family development in this city. Having some background in that—working in a city like, let’s say, C-VILLE ABODE
Question for Jeff Levien: You’ve said that Six Hundred is not going to be student housing. How can you make that call?
Jeff L: Students are not a protected class. So, you can put metrics in place to not lease to students. Why do it? We want to have a certain atmosphere and level of sophistication within the building. Also, we think there’s enough student housing in the city, and we just want to be a different product.
AMY AND JACKSON SMITH
We started looking at areas of America where we could live. We made a pro/con list. We chose Charlottesville. It had the seasons but wasn’t too warm or too cold. We had no ties to UVA. We didn’t necessarily think Jefferson was the best president. But we knew we wanted land. We wanted culture. We wanted diversity. And Charlottesville checked all those boxes. I had a bigger vision of teaching and writing more, and giving Ivy space to do her art. But someone said, ‘We heard you’re in the real estate business, and there’s a site in town....’
What provisions are you making for affordable housing?
Ivy and Jeff Levien Quincy, Massachusetts—it made me say, that’s what this city needs. With the look and feel of Six Hundred, you’re adding something uncommon, maybe nonexistent, in Charlottesville. Is that deliberate?
Jeff L.: When we first sat down with the [Bushman Dreyfus] design team, I said, ‘Is it going to offend everybody if I don’t want to do another Jeffersonian red-brick building?’ I didn’t want to be over-the-top, to the point where we would be perceived as the out-of-towners. But what I saw was very suburban. What were your impressions of the city from a lifestyle and quality-of-life perspective? How did it jibe with where you’d been and what you wanted going forward?
Ivy: When I first came here, my intention was isolation, and the farm really allowed us to do that. Quiet. No more suburban. Ultimately, our plan to live on the farm full-time didn’t work, so now we split time between Charlottesville and New York. I don’t live here day-to-day, but I engage a lot more with downtown than I thought I would have. I’m always impressed by how sophisticated everybody is. I’m impressed by the level of everything: music, art, entertainment. I was like, How does everybody not know about Charlottesville? I don’t want to scream it from the rooftops—but I sort of do. It’s just a cool little beatnik [enclave]. How did you find Bushman Dreyfus? Why did you choose to work with them? Ivy: Where we are, in North Garden, there was a list of architects you had to choose from, and Bushman Dreyfus was one of them. After one or two meetings with JD, we made up our minds.
Jeff L.: We’re going to do what we think is novel to the city, and also something we’re pretty proud of. We’re placing the required affordable units on-site. They’re going to be above one of the retail buildings, on the second floor, and part of the project. There’s a formula you use to come up with either the amount you’ll pay into the [city’s housing] fund, or the number of units you have to provide. Most developers choose not to build those units on-site, but we have. Based on the formula, our affordable housing requirement comes out to two units. It’s basically 5 percent. Let’s talk about the form of the building, including the Blue Moon and how that figures into the equation. J.D.: At the very beginning, we agreed that this building needs to be forward-looking. That was inspiring in many ways. It really is what Jefferson was about. We also had to keep the two contributing structures, the Blue Moon and the one next door. There have been some misconceptions, but we and the Blue Moon owners agreed that the diner would reopen at Six Hundred. I believe the two older buildings add a layer of richness to the project that we wouldn’t be able to fabricate. Six Hundred looks forward, but also embraces the past. The new building steps back from the other two buildings, which retain their presence on the street. And where the new building approaches the street, it steps down, in deference to the scale of the existing buildings. What about the exterior cladding. What look are you going for, and what is the materiality? J.D.: The material is the result of a lot of exploration by the team. I have to say first that Jeff and Ivy are not your standard clients. We became a design team. Developer, artist, and architects figuring out what we’re capable of doing together. How far can we reach? CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
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Jeff L.: Timing-wise, University Tire is staying for at least a year. We’ll get the benefit of seeing how Six Hundred plays out. We’ll have to layer in market considerations with design. But I don’t think it’s going to be yin-and-yang. It’s not going to be an all-white building next to an all-black building.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17
Jeff L.: We had this idea of metals—more industrial or less industrial—and stuck with it. There was never a conversation of brick. What are some of the points of reference?
J.D.: To double back on the earlier question, why Charlottesville? Here, in Jeff and Ivy, you have two true urbanites in Charlottesville. I think the interesting part about 2.0, and benefitting from the knowledge we gain from Six Hundred, is that we’ll better understand just how urban Charlottesville is willing to go.
Ivy: I can’t name one building, in particular. They were all over the world. The materials, the way the buildings interacted with the space around them, the way the light played off of them. We covered so many things, I don’t recall there being any one influence that stood out, like, The Lever House [a Modern “glass curtain” building in New York]. We were more interested in a mix of influences.
J.D.: It’s going to be really beautiful. We’re thinking, How do we make that part of this project? Beyond that, we haven’t dived into it too deeply. Former mayor Maurice Cox led the charge in the early 2000s to densify Charlottesville and, in effect, make it more urban, which is what Six Hundred does. Cox went on to become the director of planning and development in Detroit, and talked about “taking control of the narrative” of that city as it recovered from its bankruptcy crisis. In Charlottesville, our crisis remains the
Ivy: It was a conversation about, for instance, should it feel like a collection of [shipping] containers? No! That’s too far. One big thing was, we spent a lot of time figuring out what the personality of the building was. It helped the design of the building. We had the personality on one side, we had the materials on the other, and as a team, we thought about those things, and then built it. What personality are you referring to?
Ivy: I hate this question, because this building has become me, in bricks and mortar. J.D.: Or no bricks and mortar (laughs). Ivy: It’s thoughtful. Every piece of hardware, every material—we said, ‘This is what the building should have.’ It was very intentional. We had an idea of who our clients would be, who we wanted them to be. They are interested in design, they are forward-thinking. The building feels curated. It’s clean-lined. And it’s a little modern but not so much that in five years it’s going to be dated. About the other building....
Ivy: Changing the subject, I see. Oh, Six Hundred is so yesterday! (laughs) Jeff L.: We closed on the site next door, the University Tire site, which we call 2.0. It will be the next great West Main project, we think. Ivy: We came up with the idea that the next building is going to be Six Hundred’s best friend. We came back to personalities. How do the buildings relate? How do they understand one another? How do they engage with one another? C-VILLE ABODE
SIX HUNDRED WEST MAIN
J.D.: Jeff and Ivy would send us images with notes. ‘Hey, we were walking down the street in New York and we saw this, and it’s so cool!’ And we, my associates and I, were finding images. And we put them up on this wall. It was before Pinterest became big, so we had our own version of that.
Between the 53-unit apartment building and the back of the two older structures, including the Blue Moon Diner, lies an interior courtyard. “It’s tight, it’s tucked away, it’s vertical—and the character of three different buildings all help create this unique space,” says architect Jeff Dreyfus.
Ivy: Maybe the city wasn’t ready for [Six Hundred] before. So, now it’s ready. I think it’s for sophisticated people. A well-designed, curated, thoughtful, clean space. I want my building to represent how I want to live my life. J.D.: There’s a part of it that’s aspirational. Ivy: Right. We dreamed a little. We dreamed for every one of our clients. We dreamed for you, so now go live it. What else can you tell us about 2.0?
J.D.: We get to start with a clean slate. One interesting note: We’ve gotten approval to have a mural on the existing retail building by a worldrenowned artist. That would go up in October. It’s really cool. Ivy: Faith XLVII is the artist’s name. Charlottesville is really lucky to have a mural by her. That is a gift that we are giving to Charlottesville, wrapped in a bow.
events of August 2017. Do you think that smart development can make a difference and begin to redefine the city?
Ivy: We discussed where the city is now in relation to those events, and whether they have a bearing on what we do. It’s not our place to weigh in on politics. But when we became interested in Faith XLVII, and she heard ‘Charlottesville,’ she said, I would love to come there and work. She is aware of what happened here. To me, the mural is a giant positive that comes out of a horrible negative. J.D.: It does go to the question of how can design and urban development affect the trajectory of this town. We talked earlier about wanting to be forward-looking with Six Hundred. People from the outside, they look at Charlottesville, they know the ‘event.’ It’s also true that our architecture is known for being historic and backward-looking. From a world perspective, Charlottesville is mired in this zone. But I think with Six Hundred and some other projects going on now, we’re looking to the future. We’re looking to move beyond where we are as a community, both in how we build and how we interact with one another day to day. 19
Virginia Cowherd Mountain Farm 232 Acres
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In a private valley of the Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District near Somerset and James Madison’s Montpelier, Cowherd Mtn Farm enjoys fertile soil and abundant water. Revolutionary War Vet Francis Cowherd purchased from James Madison and left his name on the mountain which serves as a shelter to the farm. Approximately 1/2 the farm is established pasture with the balance in mature forest. With morning sun, afternoon shade, & gentle slope, this is perfect for a vineyard. The farmhouse has 3 br’s and 2 baths for a farm mgr or as a staging area while you build on a knoll overlooking the valley to the mountains. Not in conservation easement with potential tax benefits $1,785,000
Contact: Joe Samuels 434-981-3322
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B L U E P R I N T
Outside in
Inventive design gives a narrow bathroom a natural feel By Joe Bargmann
Y
our standard bathroom measures about five-by-eight feet, just big enough to squeeze in a vanity, commode, and tub. Charlottesville’s Alloy Workshop and a city client started with this rote template, and found a way to expand and open up the space. The linear, one-of-a-kind room now features a glass-walled shower that juts into midair. If lathering up in a place like that doesn’t give you a sense of freedom, nothing will. “The client had completed a screen-porch addition to the back of the house, and there was this space sort of left over, between the exterior of the existing bathroom and the porch,” says Dan Zimmerman, a founding partner of Alloy. “We asked, ‘What if we extended the bathroom?’ The additional square footage changed the game.” “We could not make the bathroom wider— other parts of the house prevented that,” the
client says. “The decision was made to remove the bathtub at the far end of the bathroom, and then we moved that wall out by six or eight feet.” The extra space allowed Alloy to place the sink, toilet, and additional storage in the old footprint. But the overall configuration was odd. “What do you do with this long, narrow space?” Zimmerman asks. “We called the solution our earthworm approach. There’s a long skinny part, a fat middle section, and then another long, skinny part.” Built on steel columns, the expansion became the shower. The client, an orchid grower, wanted to let in a lot of natural light, so Alloy chose floorto-ceiling glass for two walls that form a corner. “That opens up the space visually to the backyard,” the client says, anticipating the obvious next question. “At this time of year, with leaves on the trees, it’s totally private—like showering
in a private outdoor space at the beach. It’s very expansive and comfortable.” And when the leaves drop, translucent roll-up shades concealed at the top of the glass walls can be unfurled. With the privacy issue solved, the next puzzle was how to provide contrast from one section of the “earthworm” to the next. “What we did was to change materials, colors, lighting, and ceiling heights among the three spaces,” Zimmerman says. The shower is finished with dark-gray stone tile accented with chrome fixtures. The client’s orchids sit on shelves extending from the tiled walls, providing a visual connection to the outdoors. Ultimately, though the bathroom’s layout is unconventional, it unfolds effortlessly, testifying to the success of Alloy’s clever design and fabrication.
ALLOY WORKSHOP
The linear, one-ofa-kind room now features a glasswalled shower that juts into midair.
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B L U E P R I N T
Divide and conquer Reinvigorate your irises with a fall replanting By Erika Howsare
R
emember back in May, when your irises bloomed? They were gorgeous—tall bearded irises are particularly showy—but fleeting. You may have forgotten about them since then, but they need some attention. Pat Chadwick, president of the Piedmont Master Gardeners, says that July through the end of September is the right time to divide and replant your iris rhizomes. “You need to give them six weeks to store nutrients after they bloom,” she explains. And it’s important to get them back into the ground well before the ground freezes. “It takes a while for the roots to get established” she says. How do you know when it’s the right time to divide? “In general, irises should be divided every three to five years,” she says. “Divide when you can see they’re crowded, and if they’re not blooming the way they used to.” The procedure begins with watering a day prior, in order to loosen the soil around the rhizome mass. “Dig several inches away from the clump,” says Chadwick. “Take a shovel or a garden fork, gently work it horizontally under the clump and pry it up.” Then, inspect what you’ve got. Rhizomes grow horizontally with roots coming off their sides. “The original rhizome will have no leaves,” says Chadwick. “Discard that and snap off the attached rhizomes with white or cream-colored roots.” Choose the largest ones—they’ll bloom fastest next spring— aiming for those at least two inches long. Trim their leaves on an angle to about a third of their height. Choose a spot for replanting by looking for full sun (at least six hours per day) and good drainage. To prepare the spot, dig three to five inches down and wide enough to accommodate the rhizome and its roots. Mix in a handful of compost, build up a cone of soil in the center of this patch, and rest the rhizome on top of the cone. This will be shallower than you might think—“right at ground level or barely below,” says Chadwick. Spread the roots out and fill in the hole. You should plant irises about 18 inches apart, or one foot for dwarf varieties. “In the first year they may look sparse, but they fill in very rapidly,” says Chadwick. Water once after replanting, but not again unless there’s a drought. (The saying goes, “Iris don’t like wet feet.”) And then sit back and wait for your irises to flower again. This might not happen the first year, but once they’ve built up the nutrients they need, they’ll reward your hard work with lovely spring blooms.
Tall bearded iris can be show-stoppers, but they’re also finicky. They like well-drained soil, shallow planting, and direct sun. C-VILLE ABODE
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B L U E P R I N T
A tour of the future McIntire Botanical Garden focuses on spotting and identifying butterflies.
EVENTS
Butterfly walk August 26 Master naturalist Nancy Weiss leads a tour of the future McIntire Botanical Garden site to spot butterflies and share her vast knowledge about them. Participants of all ages are welcome and encouraged to bring binoculars to view common species like the eastern swallowtail—and follow Weiss’ lead to observe more unusual examples. (She has seen more than 60 different species in Albemarle County.) Free. 10:30am-noon. McIntire Park entrance at Melbourne Road near John W. Warner Parkway. mcintirebotanicalgarden.org
Historic landscape tour August 4, September 1, October 6 Tour the grounds of James Madison’s Montpelier and learn how 250 years of care and preservation made it a trove of old-growth trees and unique plantings. Free. 1pm. 11350 Constitution Hwy., Montpelier Station, (540)672-2728, montpelier.org.
Gazpacho in the garden September 6 Enjoy the end-of-summer harvest at the UVA student-run farm at Morven Kitchen Garden. This laid-back party (bring your own blanket and chair, please) features food, music, and a celebration of the coming season. It also supports a good C-VILLE ABODE
cause. “The garden serves as a living laboratory to explore questions surrounding farm economics, organic cultivation techniques, and placebased educational practices,” according to the MKG website. Free admission. Donations accepted to support the student projects. 5:30-8:30pm. 791 Morven Dr. mkggazpacho.splashthat.com.
Through The Garden Gate: Amy Lewis’ Garden September 14 Offering a rare opportunity to tour an extraordinary private landscape, Amy Lewis and her husband, Reid Humphries, invite guests to learn about their 11-acre parcel in Free Union. The couple has been methodically working the land since 2010, using stone excavated on-site to build an 82-foot-long wall, planting orchards, building a barn and chicken house, and creating vast areas—including a 3 1/2-acre meadow—filled with native plants. “Paths mowed through the meadow make for a magical place to wander while enjoying the diversity of birds, butterflies, bees and the extraordinary mountain views,” says the event listing. Sounds heavenly, no? $5. 9am-noon. 7195 Free Union Rd. piedmontmaster gardeners.org/events.
Heritage Harvest Festival September 20-21
No local foodie worth their pink Himalayan salt would miss this star-studded event. Billed as “a
celebration of Thomas Jefferson’s agricultural and epicurean legacy,” the 13th annual HHF has a mind-blowing menu of workshops, kids’ activities, talks, tours, seed-swaps, and, of course, plenty to eat and drink. Local and national experts will delve into everything from food justice to beekeeping and botanical drawing. Presenters include Charlottesville’s own Richard Morris, of the Urban Agriculture Collective, Korby Kummer, winner of five James Beard Culinary Awards, and Alice Waters, the Chez Panisse chef and founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project. Individual events priced separately. 9am-6pm. On Saturday, general admission is $26.95 for adults, $10 for kids 5-11, and free for children under 5. Monticello, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. For advance tickets, parking, and transportation information, visit heritage harvestfestival.com.
Garden basics workshop September 21 The Piedmont Master Gardeners Association offers homeowners instruction on increasing curb appeal and making their yard a sweet place to hang out. The Shrubs for the Home Landscape session provides tips on “how to beautify your home, solve common landscape problems, and provide habitat for birds and pollinators.” Free (registration recommended). 2pm-4pm. Trinity Episcopal Church, 1118 Preston Avenue. 872-4581. piedmontmastergardeners.org/events. 25
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Annie Gould Gallery
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Alex Gould 109 South Main Street, Gordonsville, VA 22942 • (540) 832-6352 anniegouldgallery
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Team building Clients, architect, interior designer, builder, landscape architect. When a big cast creates a home to last for generations, a matrix of considerations come into play. Here are 25, just for starters. 30
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By Joe Bargmann Photography by Stephen Barling The overall form of the structure brings to mind a classic Virginia farmhouse, but the minimal exterior detailing provides modern style.
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A wall of glass doors and windows visually connects the living room to the outdoors and provides an expansive view of the mountains in the distance. When a group of guests are present, the chairs and ottomans are intended to be moved into a configuration that facilitates conversation.
D
esigning a home for an architectural historian—not just any home, but an elegant redoubt on a hilltop in Free Union, with distant mountain views and a style that feels modern but also like a classic Virginia farmhouse—is no task for the timid. Jeff Dreyfus has the chops. His Charlottesville firm, Bushman Dreyfus Architects, is highly regarded. But when the clients called, he knew immediately that he faced a complex, intense assignment, so he requested backup. More than four years later, in the summer of 2018, the house was complete. It required the dedication of not just Dreyfus and his associate Erin Dorr, but also that of interior designer Alana Woerpel (alana’s, ltd.), landscape architect Anne Pray (Pray Design Associates), and project manager Justin Walton (Element Construction). Dedication is such a nebulous word. In this case, during crucial periods, it meant biweekly meetings, with many or all of the team members and the client present, to give progress reports and determine next steps. In the end, the clients got the house they wanted, and Team Dreyfus earned the portfolio piece of a lifetime. The U-shaped house, with white reverse board-and-batten cladding and a black raised-seam metal roof, sits starkly on the C-VILLE ABODE
site. It’s not quite what you’d call a fortress—the clean lines and balanced proportions make it much more refined than that—but it does have a commanding presence. A hip-high stone wall meets the eye about 10 paces before the house, and a break in the wall conducts the crushedstone driveway into a generously wide circle that completes the approach to the structure. The orchestrated sequence that leads from the landscape to the front door feels deliberate, providing evidence of the high level of thought that went into the planning and design of the entrance. The pacing is unhurried, the experience timeless: It would suit a coach pulled by two horses or an SUV powered by a V-eight. In a recent interview with the team and tour of the house, I learned about the thorough process that brought the project to life. 1. Quality clients know what they want —and want to be involved. The husband and wife are UVA grads with a strong affinity for Charlottesville. They were living in Manhattan with their two young girls but wanted to move back to Virginia and build a home that would last for generations. He’s a businessman who travels often and works from a home office. She’s an architectural historian who
also makes her own schedule. She has a good eye for design and told Dreyfus that she would be part of the decision-making, start to finish. 2. Good design is time-consuming and collaborative. The owners had initially thought they’d live in Manhattan as plans for the house came together. But they decided to pull up stakes sooner. “All of a sudden they were moving down here—two years before the house would be completed,” Dreyfus says. “They were here for the design process and the construction, which was just great.” 3. Step one, finding the right site, takes perseverance. “They were looking at land south of town, and had settled on a beautiful piece of property with gorgeous views,” Dreyfus says. “They made contact with the landowner, who said, ‘Oh, you’re thinking of building on that land? No, I’m not interested in selling. And by the way, one day I may put a pig farm there.’ They started looking elsewhere in the county.” They bought the site in Free Union months later. CONTINUED ON PAGE 35
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4. Team Dreyfus formed quickly. Dreyfus tapped Dorr as the in-house lead associate, and chose Element Construction as well as Pray and Woerpel, for the landscape and interior designs, respectively. “We’d had the opportunity to work with Alana on a number of projects,” Dreyfus says. “Having her involved in the early design phase, as with Anne, affects the house design in very good ways.” 5. Interior designers don’t just make things look pretty. “I remember a meeting where we were talking about the kitchen layout, and there were some difficulties trying to get the view and the workflow,” Dreyfus says. “Alana said, ‘Well, why don’t you put the sink over here.’ We did, and the kitchen worked perfectly.’” 6. The architecture and design embody the clients. “She is very much about design and classical ideals, and he is very much about craft,” Dreyfus says. “One of his hobbies is as a potter. So, we looked at a lot of materials that are handcrafted.” “He would get so excited about tiles, for instance,” Woerpel says. “It was funny to see a husband get happy looking at pictures of tiles.” 7. One house design? Try eight. “The plan arose out of floor-plan studies that incorporated the landscape and took advantage of the views,” Dreyfus says. “In the end, we had six or eight for the clients to choose from. She was always drawn to those that had balance, proportions, and scale all in sync.” 8. The landscape is alive. “It’s important in the beginning to just walk and walk and walk, and look and look and look,” says Pray. “You are going to be stewards of this land. It’s a living system that you become engaged with. We took a lot of time going back up there. The owners understood that there are all these layers that you have to unfold to see what the opportunities are. They committed to a sequence of earthwork and landwork, and taking out some trees to open up the view.” Pray also discovered an arcing row of oak trees, which informed the shape of the driveway. “Originally, you went up this steep hill and plopped into the top of the lot,” she says. “But after we found the oaks, we just started playing off of them. They really helped with siting the house, and understanding the sequence of arrival. They made it possible to extend the landscape into the overall design, including the house.”
Top to bottom: Generous spacing around the kitchen island gives the room a good flow. The library steps down to a patio. Windows surround the kitchen’s dining nook, providing views of the garden. The light fixture in the dining room mimics a tree branch, with lights where the leaves would be.
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9. A bulldozer is a design tool. Dreyfus wanted the house to provide the best mountain views. That sounds like a no-brainer, but getting the building in the right place was a major challenge, because the really good views were from a low point on the site. “We had to move a lot of dirt to get it right,” Pray says. “I like to reshape and move things, because you are creating a particular space. It’s a very architectural in that sense. We had to cut in a place for the foundation, and move a lot of soil to get the drainage and the house position right.” “If those things had not been done, you would have sensed the tension between the house and the landscape,” Dreyfus says. “But now, the home feels very much in place. The bulldozer is a big part of the design and construction process—I think it’s underrated.” 10. And so is Pinterest. “We all use Pinterest to share images and ideas,” Pray says. “They were pinning just as many garden images as they were house ideas. That’s how we knew they were clients who wanted to build from the ground up.” 11. Sometimes, decor dictates design and construction, not vice versa. “For the living room, I found a fireplace surround in New York,” Woerpel says. “[The architects] put it into the model, and we changed how the woodwork in the wall was laid out, based on the fireplace.” 12. A hallway can serve many purposes. “We all talked about the width of the hallway just inside the front entry,” Dorr says. “Where you’re received, in the main foyer, it’s perfectly wide enough to greet guests, so there was no need to create a whole separate room. That’s a nice, modern gesture. We also knew the client wanted to display art on the walls there. So, the hallway became a reception area and a place to look at art, but it also does what a hallway is supposed to do, connecting the interior spaces—living room, dining room, and so on—and also leading outside to the garden. It all unfolds, from the inside out.”
Scalloped floor tiles with a bit of sheen add to the brightness of the wife’s bathroom. Black framing provides contrast and defines the shower, which is large enough to feel like a separate room. Opposite: Large windows bring the outside in, creating a stunning setting for the mirror-finish bathtub.
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13. Every room has a view, but the one from the living room steals your face. A mere 10 paces separate entryway and the living room’s rear wall, which is composed of tall glass windows and doors. When the front door opens, the mountain view through that glass sets the tone: dramatic yet peaceful. It also provides an intuitive, persistent connection between the natural world and the home. C-VILLE ABODE
14. Money talks. “Every single conversation is important to the builder,” says project manager Justin Walton, of Element. “The sooner we can be taking all of the design elements into account, the sooner I can get cost information back to everybody, and the better decisions we can make. We started looking at a masterplan, with a pool house, and a screenedporch pavilion, and a potting shed for the husband, you know, a place for him to create things, Thoreau’s cabin in the woods. I had to get a feeling for the cost of all those things and hone down the scope. It’s the refining fire that propels the project forward. It pushes the client to the edge of their comfort, so they have to make strong selections about materials, finishes and design elements.”
Woerpel says. Dreyfus sees this affect in both the living room, toward the front of the house, and the library, which is in back. “The dining room looks out on a beautiful garden,” he says. But it’s painted a dark green that holds you in the space. You are meant to spend time in this room, eating and talking, and the color encourages that.” The same tenet holds true in the library, which is painted a deep blue. Built-in bookshelves cover three walls and are full of the wife’s architectural tomes, and the back wall is mainly glass. “It’s a classic space,” Dreyfus says. “The rich, glossy blue paint contributes to this feeling.” 19. A lower floor creates a higher ceiling. This is the case in the library, which is two steps
15. Everything is connected. “You’re helping the client see how one decision may affect another, how the elements are all wrapped together,” Dorr says. “A single decision doesn’t stand alone. It’s connected to, and has a bearing on, many other aspects of the design and building process.”
18. Dark walls create destinations and encourage sitting still. “The rooms off of the hallway and the living room all provide moments of color and drama,”
21. Oh, and the one in the dining room, too. It’s horizontal, floating above the table, and structured like a tree branch, with little lights dotting the end of each twig. “That was a nod to the garden,” Woerpel says. 22. Inside out, outside in. “Anne’s landscape designs responded not only to the house but to the site,” Dreyfus says. “There are axes in the house that are pulled right out into the garden, and views from within the house into the garden that are very thoughtful about, for instance, what you’ll be looking at when you’re standing at the kitchen sink.” 23. Style is the constant guide. “We were always walking the razor’s edge between modern and traditional,” Walton says. “The owners were bridging that gap. As an architectural historian, the wife had a foot in the past. But her and her husband’s sensibilities and the way they live is very modern. From my point of view, we were always trying to find the sweet spot between traditional and modern, or past and present.”
16. The landscape is not just a garden. “The question became, how do we all understand the different scales of this place—from the distant mountains and horizon, all the way down to the tiny plants that are going to be in the garden—and build that native accent into this Virginia home,” Pray says. “The field, the forest, the stream and the other natural elements of the site—we had to embed them in the whole idea of scale.” 17. Light wall colors promote motion. “The fundamental layout is classical, with a wing on each of the two sides and the central hallway and living room,” Woerpel says. “We used a warm off-white in the hallway and the living room, to open them up. The hallway leads you from room to room, and the light color encourages movement. It also does not draw attention to itself. So, when you enter, you look through the living room, not at it—the color makes the room a conduit from the arrival space to the view out the back.”
it in a shop, took a picture, texted it to the client, and she immediately asked ‘What room are you thinking?’ I said, “Library!”
24. The exterior material is just one example. You hear “reverse board-and-batten,” and you think, wood. But Walton used concrete fiberboard. “We chose that because it has a very low expansion coefficient,” Walton says. “We had 30-foot runs of fiber cement up the side of the house. So, if anything moves, even a fraction of an inch, you’re going to see that. That was just one of the basic decisions about the exterior material. It also drove the design of the detailing, which is minimalist.” below the living room. If the wall height had been standard, the room may have felt claustrophobic. “It’s also got views,” Dreyfus says. “It’s not a big room—it’s a little jewel box—but neither is it confining. And the light fixture....” 20. Yeah, about that light fixture. “It’s from Morocco, and shaped like a big brass pillow,” Woerpel says. “I was in New Orleans, saw
25. It’s a house for the ages. “I think it would be interesting to document the evolution of the house and the landscape over the next 25 to 30 years,” Dreyfus says. “The clients are committed to a long-range vision. I can see the landscape growing in. It’s going to be a totally different world. Their attitude is, We don’t have to buy a huge oak tree and put it in. We can get a reasonably sized oak and watch it grow.
“We were always walking the razor’s edge between modern and traditional. The owners were bridging that gap. As an architectural historian, the wife had a foot in the past. But her and her husband’s sensibilities and the way they live is very modern.” PROJECT MANAGER JUSTIN WALTON
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Logging out
After 21 years, a local photographer leaves her beloved Black Cat Cabin By Joe Bargmann
Y
ou don’t have to be Henry David Thoreau to appreciate the beauty and peacefulness of living in a cabin in the woods. Lynne Brubaker understands it to her core. The Keswick resident, known for her photography and the constant companionship of her dogs, spent more than two decades in Black Cat Cabin, the log structure surrounded by towering oak trees and named for the road that once connected the secluded property to the outside world. She sold the cabin recently, having grown a bit weary of maintaining it, and emotionally prepared to leave her oasis of solitude. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it,” Brubaker says, a faint trill in her voice. “With my photography, I was traveling all over the world, to the most amazing and beautiful places. But every time I returned from an assignment, I was just overjoyed to be here.” The Thoreau reference isn’t as apt as it was when the cabin was built in 1932. It feels unto itself, to be sure—but newer and larger homes of Keswick Hall & Golf Club have grown up nearby. Brubaker still hears primarily birdsongs and leaves rustled by the wind, but now there are other sounds, too. “I can hear people down on the seventh fairway,” she says. “And if anyone misses a putt, I can definitely hear it.”
First blush Brubaker discovered Black Cat Cabin in 1998, when the previous owner, Julie Stein, who owned the artsy Charlottesville shop Julie’s Dixie Pig, put the home on the market. “A log cabin was not on my mind,” Brubaker recalls. “But I got halfway up the driveway, and I said to myself, ‘Oh, my gosh, this place is amazing. I don’t care how much it costs— I need to go for it.’” Mind you, this was before Brubaker had even caught a glimpse of the cabin. “I was responding to the land, the openness of the land,” she says. “It was complete solitude.” The home had been renovated in 1990, so it was in good shape despite its many decades in the shade of the hardwoods. Along with her boyfriend (an Englishman) and two Australian shepherds, Brubaker made the cabin her home, seduced by its rustic charm. An iron wagon wheel is built into the stone face of the fireplace wall, and the house was made entirely of locally harvested logs held together by wooden pegs and daubing. Once, during a strong storm, Brubaker recalls hearing hail pinging off the metal roof. CONTINUED ON PAGE 43
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Photography by Stephen Barling Contemporary touches in the rustic living room—the mid-century modern stereo console, the large wall-mounted TV screen—prevent it from feeling stuck in the past.
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Michael Slon, Music Director
www.oratoriosociety.org
A stone patio and restrained planting keep the focus on the lovely patina of the cabin’s exterior. An addition and the removal of an interior wall provided room for the new kitchen. The loft bedroom feels like a cozy hideaway, despite the high, steeply angled ceiling.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 40
Thoughtful upgrades
Living in the cabin provided no shortage of memories. There was the time a large bear sat at the base of an oak tree in the yard, eating acorns, and completely unperturbed even after noticing Brubaker taking photographs of the scene. She had close calls with copperheads. Foxes frequently sauntered by the house, and Brubaker’s dogs learned quickly to chase away deer, pursuing them to the edge of the woods and then returning home. In mid-September 2003, Hurricane Isabel roared through Keswick, toppling trees and knocking out utilities—except at Black Cat Cabin. “I was here when the storm hit,” Brubaker says. “Of all the oak trees around me, not one of them fell. And I never lost power, which was strange, because it was out for miles around. People would come over here and take showers.”
Brubaker, who lived alone after her boyfriend moved back to England, has touched up the home over the years. She hired craftspeople skilled at working with reclaimed and handhewn timber. “They used wooden pegs everywhere in the construction except the floors, where they used screws,” she says. Brubaker redid the kitchen, expanding it by removing a wall that had cordoned off an office, which she relocated to a refurbished outbuilding. The counters in the refreshed cooking space are made of locally quarried soapstone. She added balconies and a copper roof, and created stone patios, also with local materials. Although the physical space has changed and the cabin expanded, it retains the feeling of solitude and its connection to nature that ini-
C-VILLE ABODE
tially made Brubaker fall in love with the place. Black Cat Cabin became part of Brubaker, and she part of it. Always a dog lover and a participant in agility trials with them, Brubaker inevitably lost some of her animals as time went by. “There has been some sadness here, and death, but I will always remember it as being full of life,” says Brubaker, who “passed the baton” to a new owner this summer. “There’s one thing that I’m really going to miss here,” she says. “It’s a weeping cherry that I planted and has grown quite large. My dogs are buried under the tree. Leaving them is a heartbreaker. But they are actually part of the tree now, so I guess it’s okay.” While the updated cabin may be more comfortable than Thoreau’s spartan quarters were, it still taught Brubaker a lot. 43
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On the porch The outdoor room everybody should have—and use
W
e live in a culture that loves the look of a porch, but doesn’t know how to use it. It’s commonplace to say that a front porch gives a house a social outlook— sort of a “Public Welcome” vibe—while a back deck sends more of a “Private Party” message. In town, front porches can become a fertile zone where public and private mix: while owners sit, passersby on the sidewalk can talk, answer, joke, tease, even get invited to pull up a glider. Unplanned socializing is a real glue. Like much of America, Charlottesville has a mix of houses with and without front porches. There are neighborhoods built in sociable decades and others from eras that tended more toward nuclear-family isolation, with everyone hunkering over separate backyard grills. There are also recent
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subdivisions where every shiny new home sports a front porch—complete with gleaming white wooden railings and all-weather furniture—but the humans are missing. Look for them on the back deck, or inside, engaging with a screen. It’s odd that the porch is a largely nostalgic feature, because it is actually a fantastic invention. I’m writing this on the front porch of my own house, built during the Depression. What strikes me about this spot is how perfectly it embodies the architectural ideal of “prospect and refuge.” Early humans, the theory goes, evolved to feel secure when they could get in a protected place and gaze out over a wide sweep of territory. Think caves, cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde, the corner office—my front porch fits the bill perfectly. My back’s to the wall and there’s a roof over my
head, but I can see and hear a good bit of what’s happening in the neighborhood, from whose dog is barking to when the mail shows up. Once, when I was in grad school, our curmudgeonly landlord berated us for lounging on the second-floor porch of the shabby Victorian house we were renting. Perhaps concerned that it was structurally unsound, he bellowed, “This porch is not for sitting!” After he left, we went right back to our chairs. All porches are for sitting, and when you choose to take a load off on your front porch rather than in some more private space—with a cold drink, deck of cards, and/or crossword puzzle in hand—you can pat yourself on the back for the patriotic, community-minded example you’ve just set. Go ahead, sit a spell.—Erika Howsare C-VILLE ABODE
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