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As a member of Charlottesville’s Planning Commission, Cheri Lewis (who’s also an attorney) is used to dealing with thorny questions of how people and architecture interact. It can get pretty hot in that particular kitchen—i.e., lawsuits from developers, a vigilant citizenry—but Lewis’s own cooking and eating space at home feels like a true refuge. What’s funny is the fact that her 1941 house in North Downtown, which she’s owned for 10 years, seems to have come with opinions of its own—just like your average slow-growth advocate.
To be exact, Lewis’s house was designed by Floyd Johnson, a restorative architect at Monticello and a proponent of a neoclassical revival in Charlottesville. Though on this street of uniform red brick it blends, at first glance, with its neighbors, its Georgian styling is actually distinct from nearby Capes and ranchers. "It’s roughly 3 to 2," Lewis explains, describing the ratio of the house’s width to depth; other Georgian details include a fake chimney to preserve symmetry and a hipped roof.
"Architects think it’s interesting because of the affiliation with Floyd Johnson," Lewis says. When she undertook a renovation three years ago, the architect who redesigned her kitchen and dining room, Amabel Shih, often asked herself, "What would Floyd Johnson do?"
In the end, three rooms (a tiny kitchen, a dining room and a screened porch) wound up becoming one large open area. Lewis says she cared more about honoring the Johnson legacy than about specific kitchen materials. "I’m kind of a boy about it," she says. "My architect found me really hard to deal with."
"We demolished the screened porch and rebuilt it to the same specs [making it an enclosed space]; I didn’t use it much. I had to move out for nine months. They took everything down to the studs.
"This was a dining room that just didn’t work, and this was a tiny kitchen with bad Laura Ashley wallpaper. I always wanted a black and white kitchen, but I have an obsession with cobalt glass. And I did want a Wolf [stove]; I love to cook and entertain. It was important to me to have gas. That’s the smallest Wolf range you can get. Most of [the ceramic pieces] are by local potters; all the art is by Gerry Mitchell. My house is full of his stuff.
"I live alone, and every Sunday night I make something I can eat for a few days; I don’t want to eat out every night. I love grilling meat. I did London broil the other night; I do lamb, pork tenderloin. I’m part of Horse and Buggy Produce [a local food co-op], so whatever he gives us, you have to be creative about it. This week we got pie pumpkins and I wanted to make some pumpkin bread.
"This is where I stand when I entertain [behind the bar]. One year I had a party between Christmas and New Year’s. It was a Junkanoo party, which is loosely a pagan, dark side, fun Carnival-type thing right after Christmas. There were 80 people coming and going.
"I always want to think that the outside [of the house] looks Georgian, but that it’s surprising on the inside."