Erika Howsare

A house that’s been standing since before the Civil War can demand a lot of attention from its owner. Such was the case with Matt and Tricia Lucas’ home, a Free Union gem that, despite its ample size, had just one bathroom when the couple bought it about a decade ago. In fact, the home was […]

The new Northside Library, on Rio Road, says anything but “Shhhh.” From the outside, it’s positively jaunty, with aqua-blue and goldenrod-yellow accents dressing up the brick exterior, and surprising diagonals playing against the verticals of corrugated metal. One’s eyes travel to the tall entranceway and the single word, spelled in midcentury-style metal letters, on the […]

To hear Keith Scott tell it, the house his client started with was almost worse than no house at all.  “It was one of those early-’80s, quasi-farmhouse suburban houses that lack any charm or interest,” he said. “My client was really debating a tear-down.” So why had she bought it? The major reason was that […]

“An unfolding story” is how one Charlottesville resident describes her collaboration with landscape designer Cole Burrell. That’s apt —their work together has logged nine years and counting. But it’s also a fair description of what happens when you walk through the garden. From the street to the rear property line, the landscape here reveals one […]

To visit Tudor Grove is to step into a river of time. This venerable estate, just south of town off Old Lynchburg Road, has been standing here since 1800—long before I-64, Fifth Street Extended or apartments and subdivisions came to define the surroundings. As the gracious winding drive reveals the first glimpse of the house’s […]

Among this year’s offerings during Historic Garden Week, a local star will be Verulam Farm. The Ivy estate has been an Albemarle mainstay for nearly 80 years, and these days it’s serving not only as a private residence but a grand backdrop for weddings and other occasions. In 1936, Courtlandt Van Clief, a New York […]

What’s an art collector to do about the bathroom? You can’t hang valuable paintings in there. But Don and Allison Innes—who own an impressive collection of American representational art—found a way to bring their passion into even the smallest rooms of their home. The couple, whose 1949 Rugby neighborhood home was due for a double […]

In architecture, to honor tradition is no simple matter. But the land is a good place to start. Whatever materials are native to the site can become an indelible link between building and ground. Such was one of the goals at Green Mountain Station, where the Van Clief family has just settled into a brand-new […]

It’s easy for a lobby to go nearly unnoticed; it’s just a place to pass through or wait for a few minutes before moving on to the real destination. But for small startup companies, a lobby can be significant. “You don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of money on a fancy lobby, but clients […]