The address of the wedge-shaped building is 550 E. Water St., but it is better known simply as 550. That’s what happens when a piece of architecture breaks new ground. It becomes a symbol, and a shorthand reference is enough to identify it. Designed by Cecilia Hernandez Nichols and her husband, Robert Nichols—founders and principals […]
This can’t be real. That’s the thought that popped into my head when I saw Wade’s Mill. The rustic wood-and-stone structure, with its big water wheel and dark raised- seam roof, basked in the soft sunlight of a late-fall day. As I approached, car windows wide open, I felt as if I were moving toward […]
“I started painting moths eight years ago. Each of the first few took months to complete, but now I can paint one a week. I’ve done 110, including several of the same species; I expect that number to rise steadily, since I paint every day. “At night, on the side of the shed on my […]
A newly formed company—so new that it hasn’t gone public with its name yet—is looking to get into the spirits business with a craft distillery in the former Clock Shop building at 201 W. Water St. The working title for the project is Vodka House, according to Clark Gathright, the civil engineer and site planner […]
Sharon Jones’ childhood home no longer exists. It was in an area of Charlottesville called Gospel Hill, which also no longer exists. “My two brothers and I were born there,” says Jones, who was born in 1962. Around that time the rapidly expanding University of Virginia bought the dozen or so houses in the predominantly […]
Increasingly, jails have become asylums. City and county officials are hoping to change that with a new court docket aimed at diverting people with mental illness from jail by the end of the year. The therapeutic docket follows 18 months of data gathering by the local Evidence-Based Decision-Making Policy Team, which found that 23.1 percent […]
In the center of Charlottesville is a park. A park that, lately, has seen its fair share of blood and spit, pepper spray and violence, tears and prayers. It sits in the city’s northeast quadrant and takes up a square block, sandwiched between First and Second streets to the west and east, Jefferson Street to […]
Neo-Nazis and affordable housing may not seem directly connected, but in the wake of the white supremacist rally on August 12, a new coalition of grassroots activists and nonprofit groups is linking the two in a push for more homes for poorer Charlottesville residents. The Charlottesville Coalition for Low-Income Housing, formed earlier this year, has […]
The bass from the DJ speakers outside hadn’t quieted yet, but the second annual Memorial Day cookout in Tonsler Park had come to a close. Several dozen people made their way past the turntables and into the nearby community center. Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas was ready to talk. Almost exactly a year ago, Thomas […]
City Council is forging ahead with a multi-pronged attempt to stymie the affordable housing crisis in Charlottesville. The moves call for building new affordable housing, while also creating incentives for existing landlords to rent at rates affordable for lower-income families, and developing a city-funded rental assistance program for residents who are most in need. “The […]