When Rebecca Lamb and her husband came down to Charlottesville to visit the University of Virginia, they got lost in the streets off Barracks Road and found themselves in a charming neighborhood with beautiful houses on small streets sheltered by a mature tree canopy.
A year later, the self-employed Lambs decided to escape the relatively heavy business taxes of Wisconsin and looked at three college towns. Rebecca Lamb visited 25 houses, but she wanted to return to that neighborhood she had stumbled across on her first trip to Charlottesville. Lamb described it to her Realtor, who took her to Meadowbrook Hills—the neighborhood the Lambs had fallen in love with—and two houses on Hilltop Road were on the market.
 A mature collection of trees lends as much character to Meadowbrook Hills as the stately homes that line its streets. |
Six months later, the Lambs were ready to move. Rebecca came back down and found that one of the houses was still for sale. “My husband said, ‘Buy it.’”
Twelve years later, Rebecca is completely happy with the decision. “We love it here.” She’s returning home from a midday walk with her golden lab, Bear, along the compact, winding streets of the Meadowbrook Hills neighborhood. There are no sidewalks, but they aren’t really needed—even though the neighborhood is wedged between the bustle of the 250 Bypass and Barracks Road, few cars roam the streets. It has the feel of an immaculately landscaped botanical garden—well, a botanical garden that’s also full of very large houses.
Having it all
The homes of Meadowbrook Hills are of various architectural style—colonial, federal, Tudor, even a modernist square tower—but almost all of them could be called “stately.” The houses tend to have space—between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet—but they aren’t vulgar monstrosities in the Big Texas sense. Because of the sloping landscape, many of the houses disguise their full extent. Most are also on large lots, usually a minimum half acre.
Plenty of county addresses offer large lots, but Meadowbrook Hills also has that whole convenience thing working for it. As Lamb puts it, it’s seven minutes from everything.
Big houses, beautiful landscaping, convenient location, almost no traffic—as one might expect, that spells E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E. “That’s the largest concentration of expensive homes in the city,” says Roosevelt Barbour, the city assessor. The average assessment is around $800,000, a figure that, like the city as a whole, has gone up around 14 percent annually over the past five years. This year in fact was the first reprieve—only 1 percent increase, compared to a 32 percent rise in 2006.
But plenty suggests that most residents can eat the tax hike. On a weekday afternoon, the neighborhood is awash in activity by landscapers and contractors. Lamb says that seven houses on Hilltop Road underwent a major facelift last year, and about six or seven are underway already this year. Jennie and Matthew Hantzmon, for instance, are in the midst of a massive renovation and expansion on an 80-year-old house at 1109 Hilltop Rd., situated on a two-acre property they purchased for $2.6 million in 2006.
 On a weekday afternoon, the snip of garden shears and the noise of construction—renovations are frequent here—might be the only sounds a visitor would hear. |
“There’s a lot of keeping up with the Joneses in that neighborhood,” says Steve Hric, a contractor who works for Cedar Ridge Construction. “They stay competitive with the market.” He’s done several homes in the area—some of them additions, some of them renovations, but all of them a way of keeping up with the neighborhood. Hric likes the work because it requires more skill, such as a recent job where he updated a house in the neighborhood designed by famed local architect Milton Grigg.
“That’s the unique thing of the job is that it’s not straightforward new construction,” says Hric. “You always run into some sort of a challenge.”
Orderly changes
One might think that with property this expensive (and attractive), there wouldn’t be many openings in the market. Yet last year, nine houses sold in Meadowbrook Hills. Not every one of those went for more than $1 million, but since 2004, 10 homes have gone for that much (the Hantzmons’ $2.6 million being the biggest purchase price). Currently, however, there is only one home listed on the market, one of the neighborhood’s more modest houses. It’s assessed at $470,000 and on sale for $789,000.
Of course, one way to have gotten a place in the neighborhood was to buy early. Polly Hirsch and her husband bought a place on Pine Top Road in 1966 for $55,000—only the second owners of the house on a two-acre corner lot. Hirsch is out trimming the azaleas while a huge mowing rig is at work on her lawn.
“My husband planted them, but he left me to take care of them,” says Hirch, wielding clippers and wearing a broad-rimmed hat.
She hasn’t seen much change over the years, except for the infill of smaller houses. “It’s a nice neighborhood to live in.” She can’t think of any downsides, and returns to trimming the bushes—doing her part to maintain order in Meadowbrook Hills.
There isn’t much to threaten that order. A few petty burglaries in the fall put residents on edge for a few months, but crime doesn’t seem to be a significant issue—there’s little room for street parking, and neighbors seem to keep a close watch.
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The neighborhood association is active in maintaining the area’s tranquility. The most recent issue it has taken up is an attempt to put zoning restrictions on a strip of Emmet Street commercial property that extends across Meadowcreek, says association president Michael Masters. Cut-through traffic is an issue, says Masters. “The safety and well being of our residents, their children and pets is challenged daily by nonresident drivers trying to negotiate the overcrowded primary roads of our city,” Masters says via e-mail.
But Masters echoes the overriding sentiment about life in the Hills: “All in all, Meadowbrook Hills is a wonderful neighborhood to live in.” If you like woodland vistas, aromatic flowers and stately houses conveniently located near everything, your dream neighborhood is waiting. Just be willing to pay for it.
At a glance
Distance from Downtown: 1.6 miles
Distance from UVA Hospital: 1.7 miles
Elementary school: Venable
Middle school: Buford
High school: Charlottesville
Number of homes: 202
Average assessment: $800,000
Average increase this year: 1 percent
Average annual increase over five years: 14 percent
Sales in 2007: 10
Biggest neighborhood sale: $2.6 million for 1109 Hilltop Rd. in 2006
Sources: CAAR, Neighborhood Development Services, City Assessor
