Abode | Summer 2025

BUILDING OUT

ART OF PLACE

FRESH INSPO

CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN STUDY MAKES ROOM

NELSON BYRD WOLTZ ON ITS BEST PROJECTS

DOVETAIL'S SHOWROOM DOUBLES AS A GALLERY

SUMMER/ FALL 2025

Inside.

Outside.

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PLUS: Oak Five Architecture’s pint-sized Sugar Shack

HIDDEN

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A mid-century deck house above the Moormans River gets a thoughtful update—without losing its soul

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Scrolling toward home 22

BENNETT STUDIO

A Zillow scroll turned dream-home reality for one family, who bought a 1981 deck house on Pigeon Top Mountain for its stunning views and mid-century charm. With Alloy Workshop, they updated the layout, materials, and energy efficiency— preserving the home’s original character while making it work for modern family life.

c-ville.com/category/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. ABODE Editor Caite Hamilton. Contributors Carol Diggs, Laura Drummond, Shea Gibbs, Claudia Gohn, and Rachael Kesler. Copy Editor Susan Sorensen.

Art Director Max March. Graphic Designer Tracy Federico. Advertising Director Bianca Johnson. Account Executives Brian Hrozencik, Gabby Kirk, Candace Stevens. Production Coordinator Faith Gibson. Publisher Anna Harrison. Chief Financial Officer Debbie Miller.

A/R SPECIALIST Nanci Winter. Circulation Manager Billy Dempsey. ©2025 C-VILLE WEEKLY. 5

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9 BLUEPRINT 9

Small wonder 9

A tiny guest house, ready to replicate

Landmark moves 12 Six sites earn spots on the state register

Order in the court 13 A new Albemarle courthouse opens downtown We offer watch and jewelry repair – on the downtown mall – 319 east main street

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Spirit and structure 15

A study center gets a thoughtful renovation

Art, served daily 18

A kitchen showroom doubles as a gallery

Rooted in place 21

A landscape architect’s vision becomes a book REAL ESTATE 29

Home swap 29

UVA Health sets its sights on Oak Lawn.

HOME SWEET HOME 30

From the archives: A pool with a view.

Cover photo by Bennett Studio | Comments? E-mail us at caite@c-ville.com.

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Blueprint

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Design in all its many forms

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DANIELLE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

I

t’s called the Sugar Shack, but don’t get the wrong idea. The accessory dwelling unit in the Fifeville neighborhood, designed by Oak Five Architecture, is named for the dandelion wine once made there.

“It was a place where lots of stuff happened,” Oak Five principal Kate Snider Tabony says. “[The former homeowners] sold the dandelion wine, and it was a party spot.”

Tabony and her husband built the Sugar Shack ADU during the COVID-19 pandemic. They wanted the lofted two-over-two residential structure to serve multiple functions: short-term rental property, housing for out-of-town guests, and future home for aging parents.

The compact, two-story structure, with a footprint of 16-by-24 feet, has been all that and more.

Currently, the Sugar Shack serves as the Tabony family’s residence as they complete a major renovation of their own home.

Built on the foundation of the garage that once churned out sweet wine behind the house, the Sugar Shack features a full kitchen, living space, and upstairs bedroom with a closet and full bathroom. The building is composed of simple materials—mostly drywall—and cost-effective fixtures. “We are not talking about anything extremely fancy,” Tabony says.

Everything about the dwelling is designed with space utilization in mind, according to Tabony. The upstairs bedroom looks down into the living area, with the loft intended to maximize the sleeping quarters while making the downstairs feel expansive. Every square inch of the Sugar Shack is tapped for storage, Tabony says.

Underneath the staircase, a nook serves as both a lounge and storage area.

If reviews from former Airbnb guests are any indication, the storage has not come at the cost of comfort. “It’s not the type of residence that everyone wants, but it works very well for a single person or couple or small family,” Tabony says.

Professionally, Tabony has visions of the Sugar Shack serving yet another function. She’s made the structure’s architectural plans available for purchase and hopes they will be the first of many such off-the-shelf designs. Other plans might include a version of the Sugar Shack with two bedrooms upstairs and no loft space or a single-story ADU appropriate for individuals aging in place.

Tabony started Oak Five Architecture five years ago after more than 15 years working with Charlottesville’s Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and, later, Alloy Workshop. She earned her bachelor of science degree in archi-

Plans for Oak Five Architecture’s two-over-two Sugar Shack, so named for the dandelion wine once made on the property, are available for budget-minded homeowners interested in ADUs.

tecture from UVA before moving on to a master’s in the discipline at Princeton University.

Making ADU plans like those for the Sugar Shack available for purchase is in part an attempt to capitalize on Charlottesville’s changing zoning laws, Tabony says. Since early last year, changes in the code have made it easier for developers to build dense residential structures—and that applies to homeowners who might be interested in building income properties on their own land.

Recent developments, however, have made the future of zoning in Charlottesville less clear.

What do potential Sugar Shack builders need to move forward? Tabony’s goal is to offer plans for a structure that can be built for less than $200,000.

Homeowners would need to have enough land to accommodate the Shack’s 384 square feet, the re-

quired setbacks, and a buffer between their home and the guesthouse. The Tabony family’s own urban lot is less than one quarter of an acre.

Tabony notes that some areas of the country offer public funding for ADUs—such funding would almost certainly grow the market for Sugar Shack plans if it ever came to Charlottesville. Housing is a hot-button issue, though, and budgeting for local ADUs may always fall on homeowners.

The expense is not insignificant, Tabony concedes, but “these would be a fraction of the cost of hiring an architect to do a custom design,” while fitting in with the local design aesthetic, not to mention giving homeowners a place to make memories. “It has been an amazing part of our life, actually,” Tabony says.

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Stories in stone and wood

Four historically significant sites in our area—including a modernist home, a Black cemetery, and a rural schoolhouse—were added in June to the Virginia Landmarks Register, recognizing their cultural and architectural importance.

Thomas and Alena Hammond House (Charlottesville) Designed in 1962 by Herbert Fritz, Jr., a Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice, this striking one-story home in the Greenbrier neighborhood features hallmark Wrightian elements like an open floor plan, central hearth, and natural materials that integrate the house with its surroundings.

Shipman Historic District (Nelson County) Once known as Nelson Station, this late-19th-century railroad hub grew into a vibrant community with schools, churches, a post office, and commercial buildings, serving as a key transportation and shipping point in south-central Nelson County.

Cuckoo Elementary School (Louisa County) Built around 1925, this rare two-room schoolhouse served rural Black students during segregation until it closed in 1955 after a fire. It stands as a surviving example of the small, community-centered schools once common across Virginia.

Fairview Cemetery (Staunton)

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC RESOURCES

Founded in 1868–69 by two African American churches, this is one of the largest historically Black cemeteries in Virginia outside Richmond, with more than 2,200 marked graves and an estimated 1,000 unmarked—representing generations from emancipation through the civil rights era.—Caite Hamilton

Thomas and Alena Hammond House

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EZE AMOS

BLUEPRINT

A modern take on justice

Albemarle’s new courthouse brings light, space, and purpose to downtown

A

fter years of planning and study, Albemarle County’s new courthouse, which opened in downtown Charlottesville in June, represents a step forward in local civic design. Located within the city’s historic Court Square, the new structure addresses long-documented needs for more space, improved operations, and updated security in facilities that date back to 1762. The phases included the rehabilitation and renovation of Levy House, an 1860s Greek Revival building that served at various points as a town hall, Civil War hospital, opera house, the Jefferson School for Boys, and Parkview Apartments, before its current iteration as the County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

The new complex, designed by Maryland-based Fentress Architects and guided by Fentress, Inc. as court planner, began in earnest in 2020 and was developed as a two-phase initiative in partnership with the City of CharlotC-VILLE ABODE

tesville. Comprising multiple sites in the heart of downtown, the project added nearly 80,000 square feet of courtrooms, offices, and public space to support Albemarle’s growing population and caseload.

Fentress, Inc. led the space-planning process, analyzing caseload and staffing data, demographics, and operational trends. It facilitated stakeholder workshops to gather input from judges, law enforcement, and court staff.

Design-wise, the building balances functionality and form. Generous use of glass maximizes daylight and improves visibility throughout public areas. The resulting design brings expanded courtroom space, updated work areas, and improved functionality to Albemarle’s justice system.

The result is a courthouse designed not just for today’s needs, but with an eye toward the county’s future—rooted in its historic location but built to support a growing and evolving community.—CH 13

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BLUEPRINT

Study hall

Alexander Nicholson expands learning center to its limits

By Shea Gibbs

C-VILLE ABODE

COURTESY ALEXANDER NICHOLSON

T

he unassuming storefront at 128 Chancellor St. has long belied the Center for Christian Study’s extensive research and scholarship space. And just a few months ago, the square footage behind those doors was expanded even further.

Residential and commercial building firm Alexander Nicholson was tasked with the expansion project—namely, to use every last bit of space available to the Center for Christian Study on the square block between Chancellor and Elliewood. “The first thing that stood out about the project was its location and footprint within that area behind the existing structure,” says Drew Dunnington, project manager. “We didn’t have direct street access. We built the entire addition going through the neighboring back yard.”

The addition’s design, by Train Architects and UVA architect William Sherman, optimized every square foot of the existing property, building to the edge of what was once a parking lot to create a new lecture hall, stacks for the center’s 14,000-volume library, study area and a full, catering-ready kitchen.

From a design perspective, the expansion jutting from the back of the center is slightly more modern than the legacy facility and was envisioned with optimization in mind. “A lot of it was the maximization of space—to increase their ability to hold meetings and host groups and functions,” Dunnington says.

According to Dunnington, the project managers had to navigate not only the tight urban quarters just steps from the UVA Rotunda, but also a hillside construction area. The new building features a partially above-grade park-

A recent addition to the Center for Christian Study maximized every square foot of the existing property, building to the edge of what was once a parking lot.

ing deck situated beneath the structure and vast use of glass throughout to increase natural lighting and ease with the tradition from the old indoor areas to the new.

The modern library expansion is situated on the fourth and final floor of the addition. “They put in probably 12 or so new stacks so they can expand their literature base,” Dunnington says.

The building addition features an elevator from the basement to the top floor and a mechanical and electrical package designed to bridge the gap between the aging structure’s technology and modern tech. The addition’s lighting responds directly to natural illumination, brightening and dimming depending on time of day and weather conditions.

One of the unique environmental aspects of the project, Dunnington says, is the way the new design handles stormwater runoff, a challenge for any large building. A stormwater

retention tank situated underneath the new structure collects rainwater and releases it slowly into the ground.

Alexander Nicholson and its partners completed the Center for Christian Study project in five phases over roughly 20 months beginning in September of 2022. The client never vacated the building, despite an additional renovation of the residential structures situated on the Center’s lower level.

According to Dunnington, the project was one that fit perfectly into Alexander Nicholson’s niche as both a residential and commercial builder.

“There’s an area within the construction world where we like to say we position ourselves,” Dunnington says. “You still get all of the operational aspects of a commercial project, but with the feel of a residence. From a sentimental perspective, they were excited when we set that last piece of steel. They all signed it with a Sharpie.”

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BLUEPRINT

Art at home

Dovetail’s showroom doubles as a gallery By Caite Hamilton

S

ince 2015, Dovetail has been showcasing Charlottesville artists in its interior design showroom, first on Water Street and now in its current location on Broadway Street in Woolen Mills.

“I always liked seeing local art displayed in businesses around town,” says owner and designer Amy Hart. “When we moved into this space, it felt natural to keep that going.”

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New work goes up quarterly, pulled from a mix of clients, friends, and artists who respond to social media calls. The only requirement? The work has to be family-friendly. Dovetail hosts opening receptions for each show and encourages sales, taking a small commission to help cover event costs.

Unlike a traditional gallery, Dovetail’s showroom offers a home-like backdrop, so visitors can see how a piece might look on a mantle hood

or behind the cooktop, as well as practical help envisioning where a piece might fit in their own home. The design team helps clients find pieces that bring in color and personality.

“The kitchen is a gathering place. It should feel comfortable,” Hart says. “Art does a lot to make a space feel lived in and welcoming.”

Just hang it far from the splash zone (or frame it behind glass).

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BLUEPRINT

Designing meaning

Listening to the stories a site has to tell By Carol Diggs

C-VILLE ABODE

NELSON BYRD WOLTZ

I

t’s not easy being a landscape architect. Thomas Woltz, senior principal with Nelson Byrd Woltz, calls this time “an identity crisis” for the profession. When he tells people he’s a landscape architect, Woltz says, “they ask me what to plant in their backyard.” So now he tells them he designs public spaces, a succinct description of the work NBW has done for the last 20 years.

A desire to educate the public is sort of the impetus behind The Land is Full. In part, Wolz’s book is a celebration of NBW’s work over the last decade—“an incredibly productive period,” he says. In addition, “we wanted to de-mystify what design does.” Woltz and his colleagues chose 12 projects to “illustrate how that process is applied across varying sites.”

Bradford McKee, journalist and former editor of Landscape Architecture magazine, provided the book’s introduction. Interspersed between the projects are essays from outside experts: Andrea Wulf, historian and author of The Invention of Nature and Founding Gardeners; Brent Leggs, founder of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund; Nina-Marie Lister, head of the Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University; and Robert Pogue Harrison, author of Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition.

Each of the featured NBW projects is a public space, but they vary widely in their topography, history, and purpose. From Houston’s 1,500-acre multi-use Memorial Park to the nature refuge at the Brooklyn Naval Cemetery (part of the Brooklyn Greenway) and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the projects all demonstrate NBW’s commitment to incorporating the historical, cultural, and ecological factors unique to each project. (For a local look at NBW’s work, visit Neve Hall, Potter’s Craft Cidery’s tasting room; the Dell at UVA; the Burial Ground for Enslaved People at Monticello; or the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.)

“We want to encourage people to think carefully about the stories embedded in the land,” says Woltz. “The land is full—of both ecology and culture—and our challenge is to find and reveal it in our design.” Over the last 12 years, NBW has added restoration ecologists and

With his colleagues at Nelson Byrd Woltz, landscape architect Thomas Woltz chose 12 of the firm’s projects to, as he says, “illustrate how [the design] process is applied across varying sites.”

cultural landscape historians to its staff to more fully tell the story of each site. “Often we [as landscape architects doing the site plan] come to the project first and then add to our team as we go—the needs of the site come first.

And our work is ongoing; we may remain in the project for decades.”

Woltz, who has UVA master’s degrees in both landscape architecture and architecture as well as an honorary doctorate in environmental science, joined the firm founded by Warren Byrd Jr., his professor at UVA, in 1997. He has published numerous articles about NBW’s work. The Land is Full, the first in an intended series of four books, concentrates on public parks, while the next volumes will feature sites of memory, conservation agriculture, and gardens.

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W We all fantasize about strolling through Zillow to find our dream home. But for one family, the fantasy became reality.

“At the time, we were living in the Norfolk area,” recalls the client. “I’d gone to UVA, and always knew I wanted to retire to this area.” The clients’ children were still in school, and there was no urgent need to move—and then one day, cruising Zillow, there was the house. Perched on

Architect Dan Zimmerman describes the task of renovating this 1981 deck house “a really remarkable opportunity.”

His firm, Alloy Workshop, was charged with keeping the home’s character but adapting it for a modern family.

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a ridgetop on the western side of Pigeon Top Mountain, the house overlooked the Moormans River valley below and the Blue Ridge rising to the west.

And that was that. “You just can’t get this view,” says the client.

It was clear from the posting that the house, built in 1981, would need renovation and updating. After 30 years, the main floor’s west-facing deck was showing wear, and a wisteria arbor beneath it threatened to take over the entire elevation.

Luckily, the family wasn’t under pressure to move. They purchased the house in 2017, came back and forth to stay there while their older children finished high school, and began the renovation in 2022.

“The bones of the house were good,” says the client, “and we wanted to keep it that way.” They chose Alloy Workshop in Charlottesville, and charged the firm with honoring the house’s character while adapting it to fit a modern family. Dan Zimmerman, architect and co-founder of Alloy, describes the challenge as “a really remarkable opportunity.”

The home is a classic mid-century modern deck house, a style developed to use prefabricated units to take advantage of leftover war materials while providing affordable, modern housing for the families of returning soldiers.

The concept originated with Carl Koch, a Harvard-trained architect, who started a company called Techbuilt in the 1950s to provide quality modular homes. Two employees from Techbuilt went on to start Deck House, which has morphed into the present-day Acorn Deck House Company.

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The major changes were in the design of kitchen/mudroom end of the house, where a gray-andbrown mosaic tile kitchen counter was replaced with a sleek white central island, and outside, where the clients added 4,200 square feet of living space.

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PHOTOS: BENNETT STUDIO

Most deck houses are two stories set into a slope, and you enter from the back of the house into the main floor, which contains the open-plan public spaces (living area, dining area, kitchen) and the master bedroom. The lower floor contains the remaining bedrooms, utilitarian spaces, and often a family room or kids’ playroom. While modernist in design, deck houses use materials that create a softer, more natural feel: cedar tongue-and-groove planking for floors and ceiling, mahogany window framing, and lots of large windows and sliding glass doors to lighten the interior. And with midcentury modern coming back into vogue, many deck homeowners have found the layout adapts well to both a growing family and to aging in place.

The clients wanted to keep the character that had drawn them to the house in the first place—the spectacular view, the main living level and its open plan, and the sense of integration with the outdoors. But the kitchen layout wasn’t working—a small galley kitchen lined up along the southeast wall, with an awkward seating area and half bath wedged in. (“The kitchen was designed for a single cook,” says the client, “and our whole family likes to be in the kitchen.”) And the tiny mudroom connecting the garage to the kitchen wasn’t functional.

Added to these design issues were the needs of a 45-year-old house.

Zimmerman points out that mid-century modern concerns didn’t necessarily include energy efficiency; with that southwest-facing window wall, the home’s insulation had to be upgraded and the glass sliding doors replaced with UV-filmed floor-to-ceiling windows with tighter seals. “We had to add an extra layer of UV film post-installation,” Zimmerman notes, to keep the interior heat levels down—and the clients were not going to close off that view with curtains.

Without sliding glass doors, the roof of the lower floor was no longer a deck—and didn’t need a railing, which had been impeding the view. Instead, Alloy added a much larger and more functional deck/dining area off the reorganized kitchen, with an enlarged family room below it.

The main area of the first floor changed little. “We didn’t change the roof line,” the client says, “and we kept the cedar ceilings—and the floor-toceiling bookcase wall in the study.” The ceiling beams had been painted a dark brown, and now they’re a lighter steel gray, with a sheen that bounces the light around. The cedar floors were replaced with white oak, again to lighten the interior and suit the clean lines of the furnishings. The clients deliberately chose long, low furniture to keep the sense of open space.

Zimmerman and the client worked collaboratively on finishes and fixtures, in keeping with the mid-1950s style of the home.

The entry and the stairway down to the lower floor were unchanged, although a powder room beside the entry was added to replace the halfbath off the kitchen. Many of the original deck house touches were retained, like the wooden front door (“it’s a waffle door, a big thing in deck houses,” the client notes) and the bronze openwork globe lighting fixture in the foyer (it used to hang over the dining table).

The major changes were in the design of the kitchen/mudroom end of the house. The gray-and-brown mosaic tile counter with bar stools was replaced with a sleek white central island. The working areas of the kitchen are now organized so that two people can cook, and guests can interact.

Enlarging the mudroom allows better flow between the garage and the kitchen, as well as adding space for laundry and storage. The outdoor deck/ dining area for family and social gatherings creates a better integration of the indoor and outdoor spaces. All told, Zimmerman says, the project added 775 square feet to the interior, but with the dining deck, the outside terrace along the lower level, and the pool, the clients added more than 4,200 square feet of outdoor living space.

Even with a dream house, the work is ongoing. The next phase: They just finished installing a container lap pool off the lower floor, and it’s set into the slope so the drop isn’t enough to require a railing. A longer-term project is turning the overgrown lower slope into a wildflower meadow full of native plants, which should help the local pollinators—the client is also keeping bee hives in the north yard.

Charlottesville, Richmond, Chattanooga, New Orleans

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Young ideas

UVA Health unveils concept plan for Oak Lawn By Sean Tubbs

C-VILLE ABODE

MITCHELL MATTHEWS

S

ince the University of Virginia purchased the Fifeville estate known as Oak Lawn in October 2023, officials have pledged to include the neighborhood in the discussion of how the 5.2-acre property will be used. A concept plan for the future of Oak Lawn was shared with members of the Fifeville neighborhood during a June webinar.

“It was really important that we did this in partnership with the community,” said Dr. Tracy Downs, chief community engagement officer for UVA Health.

UVA has hired several consultants to go through the process of figuring out what happens next with the property, which until recently has been a private home. One of the firms is Mitchell Matthews, and Project Manager Erin Hannegan noted the site’s proximity to Buford Middle School and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia.

“During this process, we have spent a significant amount of time determining what the aligned vision is across multiple sources,” Hannegan said.

That includes UVA’s strategic plan, the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan, and the work of former University of Virginia president Jim Ryan’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships. The latter has advocated for more child care in the community.

The property is zoned Residential-C, which means the university will have to pursue a rezoning to build anything non-residential. That’s due to a 1986 agreement with both the city and Albemarle County, albeit one that is not binding under law.

Hannegan said the request will be to rezone the property to the campus district under the new zoning code, allowing for a daycare with more than 12 occupants, a farmer’s market, community garden spaces, or office space.

Actual uses will be determined when the rezoning process begins.

The concept plan includes constructing a long building to serve as a child-care facility along Ninth Street SW, including a parallel driveway to allow children to be dropped off. Downs said there could be spaces for up to 234 children but an exact number won’t be known until the design process is complete.

Oak Lawn may be the site of additional child-care facilities for city residents.

Community members have asked that the site’s association with slavery be honored as redevelopment occurs. LaToya Thomas with community engagement firm Brick & Story said this request has come up frequently during the public engagement process.

“That includes the Fife family, that includes the enslaved laborers who are part of the site,” Thomas said. “And think about how we’re memorializing that story for future generations to understand the site, the history, and the people who lived there and worked there.”

Sarah Malpass, vice president of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, said her group is cautiously supportive of child care, but believes community members should get placement before UVA employees.

“We are looking for written commitments either around the percentage or around the number of slots that would be reserved for our residents,” Malpass said. “We’re also looking to make sure that we have shared understanding with UVA on who the real beneficiaries should be.”

Malpass said the Fifeville Neighborhood Association believes the university should have

opted to build housing on the site to replace neighborhoods displaced by construction of the UVA hospital.

“We are very open to the idea that if UVA cannot be a partner by developing housing— affordable housing—at the Oak Lawn site, there are other opportunities to contribute to affordable housing around the neighborhood,” Malpass said.

Through its real estate foundation, the university has donated land for a 180-unit apartment building a third of a mile away to the north. All of the units will be reserved for households below designated income thresholds.

A block to the north, UVA also owns 2.73 acres on Roosevelt Brown Boulevard and Grove Street, which it purchased for $8.73 million.

Community engagements were halted earlier this year to focus on Oak Lawn.

“Planning for any major development on our Grove Street parcels has been paused while we continue to work alongside the Fifeville community to listen and collaborate,” wrote UVA Health CEO Wendy Horton in a letter this past February.

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Home Sweet Home

Meadow gone modern Set on a hilltop meadow, this home Abode featured in 2018 was always meant to feel rooted in its surroundings. Architect Bob Gray’s original design included a pergola-covered patio, but the owners eventually sought a shadier spot for dining—especially as plans for a pool and poolhouse came into focus. Gray sited the poolhouse to the side of the lawn, its folding glass doors opening to a shaded terrace. Inside, a high cathedral ceiling, shiplap walls, and bluestone flooring echo the main house. The structure 30

includes both a lounge area and a utility space tucked out of sight.

Landscape architect Anne Pray took cues from the existing gardens and the nearby meadow, opting for looser, naturalistic plantings anchored by sweetbay magnolias and boxwoods. A low stone wall and dark-bottomed pool further shape the space. Designer Kathy Heiner added movable furnishings, bright accents, and room for play.

“It’s an incredible space for all different types of gatherings,” she says.

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