Clean slate: Taking a kitchen from flood to flow

There’s nothing like a flood to rearrange priorities. Soon after Andrea and Brian Hubbell closed on their Rugby neighborhood house last March, the supply line to their kitchen sink gave up the ghost, spraying a geyser at the ceiling. Because the Hubbells weren’t yet living in the house—a 1950s brick structure—they didn’t discover the problem […]

The new traditional: A fresh farmhouse updates an American classic

Sometimes, choosing an architect isn’t just business; it’s personal. That’s how Emily Umberger and Pradeep Rajagopalan felt when they met the folks at Wolf Ackerman in 2005. “We really got along with those guys personally,” said Rajagopalan—crucial when embarking on any project, but especially the design and construction of a new house. The feeling was […]

Quality counts: Alice Marshall was ‘born to decorate’

It came as no surprise when Alice Marshall, co-owner of The Second Yard, a purveyor of decorator fabrics and home furnishings, told us that her first design memory was re-arranging dollhouse furniture. “I was born loving to decorate,” she said. “I didn’t care much about the dolls,” only about creating beautiful spaces for them to […]

Scene setter: The curtain rises on a fresh Live Arts

More than a decade ago, three of Charlottesville’s signature arts organizations got a beautiful new home—the City Center for Contemporary Arts, housing Live Arts theater, Lighthouse Studio, and Second Street Gallery. Yet, since 2003, the lobbies of the building—on floors one, two, and three —have been unfinished. “It was an awesome achievement—a very, very ambitious […]

Two for one: Architect Kate Snider Tabony on merging arts and science

“For me, architecture is like a state of active meditation—like yoga for the brain.” That’s Alloy Workshop architect Kate Snider Tabony on practicing her craft—one that’s taken her, since attending UVA’s architecture school, to California’s East Bay, Santa Fe, Princeton, New York City, and finally, Charlottesville, where she works with her brother, Zach Snider, at […]

The Virginia Film Festival: entertaining and engaging

To “educate and engage audiences on the art of film.” To “promote discussions between artists, students, academics, and audiences about the films and how they relate to the world in which we live.” And, not to forget, to “support the films and filmmakers of the Commonwealth of Virginia.” At the Virginia Film Festival, watching Oscar […]

Chimney safety starts with a clean sweep

From two Albemarle County Fire Rescue Press Releases: At 0839 hours on January 31, 2014, units responded to the report of a wall in flames inside a residence. The cause is classified as a chimney fire. The Fire Marshal’s office estimates the loss from this fire at $100,000. At 0047 hrs on March 4, 2014, […]

Buy a home with history

Our region’s strong connection to a long and distinguished past is one of many reasons it is a popular and special place to live. There are many historic sites just in the city of Charlottesville, which was formed in 1762 by an Act of the Virginia General Assembly that set aside 50 acres of land […]