Frenetic drummer and composer Allison Miller began playing the drums at age 10, before studying music performance and going on to collaborate and record with the likes of Norah Jones, Michael Feinstein and Mimi Fox. The New York-based percussionist is on a nationwide tour with her band, Boom Tic Boom, and spotlighting releases from the group’s latest album, Otis Was a Polar Bear.
Tuesday 5/3. $10-20, 7pm. Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, 717 Rugby Rd. 293-9179.
In this month’s issue of Abode: a cleverly renovated home in Staunton’s Newtown district, an update on UVA’s Rotunda redo, D.I.R.T. Studio’s Julie Bargmann on landscape architecture and more.
This month’s featured house:
When homeowners Dennis and Ingrid Blanton found their Staunton house, they knew they’d found a diamond in the rough. Located in one of the area’s five historic districts, the house required a few updates to help it suit their needs. READ MORE HERE.
This month’s featured kitchen:
Pediatrician Jeannean Carver lived in her house for 18 years before finally committing to a kitchen renovation. With a busy schedule, she could only make small updates here and there. But the room desperately needed to lighten up. READ MORE HERE.
The first time I visited the Côte-Rôtie food truck, I knew it would be at Champion Brewing Company before long. Since opening in 2012, the downtown brewery has become the capital of Charlottesville food trucks, and hosts one almost every night.
This is the brainchild of Champion owner Hunter Smith, who had seen the success of food trucks at breweries in other cities. Gigs at Champion have become so popular that Smith now enjoys the pick of the litter. “We are selective,” says Smith, who cites great food, a strong brand and a changing menu as key criteria.
Côte-Rôtie excels at all three, and is a natural fit for Champion, where it now appears most Sundays and many Tuesdays, too. What sets it apart is the training of the owners, Peter Robertson and his wife, Merrill, both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. The training shows in the attention to detail in even the simplest foods. The first dish of theirs I ever tried, for example, was a straightforward steak frites, which, like a great bistro’s, had no room for improvement. Even the fries rivaled any in town—hand-cut potatoes, fried first at a low temperature and then again at a higher one to crisp before serving.
But, as much as they excel at the basics, the Robertsons really shine when they let loose. Before moving to Charlottesville, they ran a popular restaurant in the Hamptons, which was so small they operated it by themselves, allowing them to do whatever they liked. Wanting that same freedom in Charlottesville, they initially sought a similar brick-and-mortar location, but eventually decided a food truck could meet their needs just as well, and launched Côte-Rôtie last fall.
The Sunday marriage of Champion and Côte-Rôtie yields a rare treat: sophisticated food by world-class chefs in an informal setting. “We use Sunday to try new things and cook with ingredients we love,” says Merrill.
“They’re a great fit,” says Smith, “because they have what people look for when they go to Champion—something new and flavorful, while still affordable and sometimes unconventional.”
An added bonus is that Champion is kid-friendly, with board games, free video games and even cornhole. I often take my children, 8 and 6, for Sunday dinner. Our most recent visit was on a beautiful April evening, when we followed our usual routine of playing a board game at a picnic table outside while sharing an outstanding array of dishes. In prior visits, the kids have especially enjoyed items from the yakitori grill, which the Robertsons had custom-made in Japan and installed on their truck for grilling meats and vegetables. My son’s favorites are the outstanding yakitori sweetbreads, which may be because I haven’t told him what they are. “I want those bread things,” he will say.
But, the Côte-Rôtie menu changes every week, and so on this visit there were no sweetbreads. We instead shared fried baby artichokes, tossed with fresh fava beans, sliced cherry tomatoes and a luscious lemon aioli. While it was right up my alley, the children were uncertain about some of the unfamiliar ingredients.
Like me, they loved the chicken ballotine with French fries and greens. Chicken breasts, first cooked sous vide in foie gras fat, were then rolled into hockey puck-shaped discs, breaded and fried. The method produced uncommonly juicy and flavorful chicken, which we devoured. My children even enjoyed the unusual topping: a barbecue sauce made with Champion’s Face Eater Gose, a sour, funky and salty German-style wheat beer. Stickin’ in My IPA, a hoppy, spicy rye ale, was an ideal complement.
Indeed, another virtue of Côte-Rôtie at Champion is the chance to pair great food with great beer. Smith’s favorite pairings include pork belly egg rolls with Missile IPA as well as a dish of U-10 (extra large) scallop crudo, with grilled grapefruit, edamame purée and ponzu, which Smith likes with Shower Beer, a light pilsner.
One of the Robertsons’ personal menu favorites comes from another tool in their truck: a rotisserie. After slowly cooking pork shoulder on the rotisserie, they portion, bread and fry it, cover it with provolone and Japanese barbecue sauce and stuff it into bread for a sandwich they like to pair with Sir Nils Olav, a hoppy IPA. They also enjoy oxtail poutine with ICBM, a strong imperial IPA. They braise oxtails, pick the meat and reduce the braising liquid to gravy. They then toss the meat with cheese curds and fries and douse it all in the gravy. One more favorite pairing of theirs is True Love, a Mexican-style lager, with a dish of raw hamachi, grilled romaine, edamame and radishes.
Admittedly, children may find some of these dishes a bit challenging. But there are always the fries. And cornhole.
“We use Sunday to try new things and cook with ingredients we love,” says Merrill Robertson, owner of Côte-Rôtie food truck.
In houses, so much depends on scale. A room that feels big in one house will seem cramped in another; furniture seems to shrink or expand depending on where it’s placed. On a hilltop in Ivy is a home that reaches toward the maximal end of the scale. Inside and out, it feels larger than life.
Designed by Jim Tuley, a UVA professor and designer of several dozen homes around Charlottesville and Albemarle, the house has been occupied by the original owners since it was built in 1987. That was near the end of Tuley’s career, and he seems to have stretched his wings a bit on this project—known for modestly sized, economical modern houses, he saw here a chance to design something outwardly impressive.
That must have been in large part a response to the site. It’s a quick drive from town, but once you turn into the driveway, you know you’re headed for a spot far from the madding crowds. The drive is a series of steep upward switchbacks: not for the faint of heart, to be sure.
Once you reach the top and turn around, you see the reason for the climb: The landscape rolls out to the west like a carpet, and your eye travels miles away to what seems like the edges of the world.
And the house? It’s a white, angular form set into the brow of the hill, and initially it’s a little coy about where you’re meant to enter. It seems that, at least for first-time visitors, Tuley wanted the “front” of the house (the part that faces away from the view) to be seen from across an austere gravel courtyard, presenting the minimalist white façade at its best.
Tuley designed the house in part to showcase his clients’ collection of Asian art and furnishings, which they amassed during stints in Taiwan, India and other locales. Inside, the exuberance and heft of these objects form a proper foil to the cavernous formal entry. Without them, the space will demand to be filled with something else equally weighty.
There’s a low-key fireplace here, big windows to the west and lots of glass facing the courtyard, which seems more appealing from indoors. And there’s good flow—toward either the master suite on one side, or the kitchen/dining area on the other.
The former shows its age; one might think about taking out the carpet in the bathroom, and maybe the opposing mirrored walls that create an unsettling infinity effect, competing with the views. The bedroom is, perhaps, a little too connected to the walk-in closet and dressing area. But the bones of the space—sizable rooms and (have we mentioned this?) big windows—are exciting. It’s like living in a castle in the clouds. And according to the current owners, none of the interior walls are load-bearing, easing the possibility of rearranging the floor plan.
The kitchen has weathered much better, with its oak cabinetry and simple layout. A nook on one end, just off the house’s side (read: everyday) entry, feels like the homey spot where real life would tend to happen.
Perhaps the house’s oddest space is the dining room, which occupies an all-glass sunroom similar to the one at the Bodo’s on Preston. The views certainly merit this treatment, but the form feels outmoded.
Though this main level of the house is plenty large, it has only one bedroom. The others are found on the terrace level, which opens onto yet another deck. Carpeted and much less airy than the upper floor, this level would nonetheless do fine for guests, working at home or movie watching.
Like the house overall, it has a neutral character. Tuley’s impulse here, wisely, was to let the natural surroundings be the most magnificent element. With the right décor and a refresh of some stylistic details, this house could continue to be a fitting frame for that awesomely enormous view.
PROPERTY DETAILS
Address: 3635 Raleigh Mountain Trail
MLS#: 533291
Year built: 1987
Acreage: 11.73
Bedrooms: 3
Baths: 2.5
Square footage
(finished): 4,544
Extras: Garage, hot tub
List price: $1,145,000
Even though Jeannean Carver has lived in her house since 1998, she never had a chance to figure out how to redo her kitchen. A busy pediatrician, she spent years putting off a real renovation, instead making only a few small changes. “I work a lot,” she says. “I didn’t have time to look for people to design it.”
Finally, the right people fell into her lap—the parents of her 11-year-old daughter’s friend had just started a company, Worthington Architectural Millwork, that ultimately took on the project.
Not only was the kitchen due for a makeover, there were some layout changes to be made.
“We focused on giving her more storage and making the house more livable,” says Alycia Worthington, company owner. The kitchen felt dark overall, thanks to wood cabinetry and a dearth of windows—just a single small one over the kitchen sink. It had low-quality finishes (laminate countertops; an island purchased at Sam’s Club) and didn’t flow well with the nearby living room.
To ramp up the room’s functionality, Worthington created a larger cased opening between the kitchen and living room, and moved the dining table all the way to one end of the kitchen, adding a built-in bench for seating. This created more space for the kitchen island, a pantry cabinet and a new peninsula with barstool seating—all within the existing square footage. “These guys were great about thinking about how you move,” says Carver.
The luxury quotient in this kitchen got a big upgrade; new cherry cabinetry in a Shaker style, with tiny dark walnut accents on each cabinet door, is high in quality and elegant in style.
But the real star of the show is the island countertop: an arresting slab of ambrosia maple, with a silky feel that invites the touch and color variations that capture the eye.
The choice of soapstone countertops came in part from the desire to use local materials. But there was more to it. “I used to work in a lab,” says Carver. “They used this for all the countertops.” That’s traditionally because of soapstone’s antimicrobial properties—handy in a kitchen and, in this case, nostalgic, too.
White marble backsplash tile, in a rough texture that Worthington thought would help to warm up the room’s palette, completes the look. The island cabinetry, made of maple with a white finish, is designed to be ultra practical. Just behind where a cook would stand at the stove, for example, are pull-out baskets for storing onions and potatoes. One shelf hides the microwave and another is custom-sized to store small appliances.
Worthington insisted on hiding the garbage in its own pull-out drawer, and provided Carver with something she’d never had—dedicated storage for dog food.
Carver chose low-key flooring: wide-plank engineered wood that, she says, “doesn’t take away from the beauty of the cabinets.”
Because the room had suffered from a lack of light, Worthington added as much illumination as she could. Recessed ceiling lights get a boost from pendants over the table and the peninsula—the latter in a modernized Mason jar style.
But the biggest light source are the three big windows that now fill the wall above the double farmhouse sink. Carver’s backyard, edged by woods, is now a visual element in the kitchen.
It’s a major transformation. “I can’t even tell you how much lighter this place is,” says Carver.
It was an exercise in moderation when Dennis and Ingrid Blanton chose their house in Staunton’s historic Newtown neighborhood. New to the area, freshly arrived from two years in Costa Rica, they began house-shopping and were tempted by some sizable homes.
But, says Ingrid, “We wanted to simplify our lives.” At first glance, they’d dismissed this boxy little two-story house, built in 1905. “The more we looked, the better this place looked,” says Dennis. Most of its original features were still in place, unlike some houses that had been divided into apartments. And it had a great view over downtown Staunton and all the way to the Blue Ridge.
“We think this is a diamond in the rough,” Dennis remembers telling friends.
“They had a very strong vision,” says Annie Mathot, architect with Frazier Associates, who became the lead designer on the Blantons’ renovation. In a nutshell, the goals were to open up the downstairs, add outdoor living space and reimagine a rear addition—all within the preservation guidelines that apply within this neighborhood, one of Staunton’s five historic districts.
Though they appreciated the historic nature of the home, the Blantons—like most renovators—also wanted it to serve them in the present. “We wanted to marry the historic features with the openness and convenience of 21st century living,” says Ingrid.
Rethinking spaces
On the main floor, that meant major changes to the existing floor plan, in which the modest square footage was chopped into several separate rooms. Mathot made the center hallway more porous, and transformed the living and dining rooms—which shared no doorway, even though they were adjacent—into a single space that runs the length of the house.
That space also connects intimately to the kitchen. What had been the kitchen doorway is now a wall (with a small opening for light and air), part of a U-shaped layout that greatly expands cabinet and counter space. A peninsula doubles as a bar that delineates the kitchen while inviting conversation to travel back and forth from the dining table.
Perhaps the biggest change was the simplest: to let in the view. From the back, the house commands a stellar vista, but it was totally blocked by a one-story addition across the rear. Mathot reimagined this as a two-story addition that would provide laundry and bathroom space, while leaving room for lots of glass on the rear wall so that the view could be an essential part of the interior experience.
French doors in the dining room not only make the view the backdrop to every meal, they lead to a new porch that wraps around to the side of the house. This was an exterior change that, Mathot points out, adds visual appeal to the neighborhood, especially since the Blantons’ house sits on a corner.
Upstairs, a bathroom over the stairs came out, bringing light and spaciousness to the narrowly proportioned hallway and stairwell. Mathot preserved a charming hallway space positioned 45 degrees in relation to the house, but made big changes to what had been the third bedroom.
“We basically sacrificed a bedroom for storage,” explains Ingrid. In order to add closet space in the small master bedroom, the third bedroom shrank to the size of a wide hallway—or perhaps it’s more like a big walk-in closet. Lined with storage cabinets, it leads to a new master bathroom.
Pared-down palette
The Blantons knew that, stylistically, they wanted to keep things basic. The palette is limited to a few timeless elements: wooden floors, white walls and soapstone counters and tile.
Dennis says this is a response to the modest original design of the house—a sensibility that foregrounds the charm of little things, like an original diamond-shaped window under the stairway. “There’s a million of these in Staunton; it’s a yeoman’s house,” he says. “We can make it tasteful in a simple way.”
The neutral palette also has the effect of letting the couple’s colorful art collection take center stage. “We were shooting for a gallery effect,” says Dennis. White walls and built-in shelves provide a background for beautiful things, like the oversized painted chest, circa 1773, from Ingrid’s grandmother in Switzerland.
Along with quality craftsmanship—like custom cabinets and built-in storage by Modernboy Woodshop—there are subtle touches that make this house feel more luxurious than its small size would suggest. In the kitchen, for example, the appliances (even the refrigerator) disappear under the counter, cutting down on visual clutter and allowing the stainless-steel range hood to come forward as an accent.
And in the master bedroom, where the lofty view invites the Blantons onto their second-floor balcony, low ceilings might have made the room feel cramped. But the simplicity of white walls, and a ceiling fan that’s so low-profile it almost disappears, keeps things in proportion. “You don’t feel at all closed in,” says Ingrid.
“You can take these old simple houses and make them beautiful and livable,” says Dennis. “There’s a huge sense of satisfaction.”
RENEWAL IN NEWTOWN
One of the main things that attracted the Blantons to their diamond-in-the-rough home was its setting in the Newtown neighborhood. “We had a sense that this street was on an upward trajectory,” says Ingrid. “People were fixing houses up, and we wanted to be part of that.”
Indeed, renovation is a way of life in Staunton’s largest historic district, and has been for at least a couple of decades. “Beginning with some far-sighted pioneers, the neighborhood has been changed from a less desirable portion of town to one of the most requested residential areas,” says Sally Mueller, president of the Newtown Neighborhood Association and a resident since 2007.
Positioned on a high hill, and lined with houses from various eras of history, the steep streets of Newtown play host to what residents say is an old-fashioned neighborhood culture: people gathering on front porches, strolling by or hoofing it to nearby commercial districts downtown. Newtown itself boasts at least one well-loved business, Newtown Baking, as well as Stuart Hall School and the city’s first black church.
The Blantons appreciate the neighborhood’s economic diversity and close-knit character. “We don’t want it to gentrify completely,” says Ingrid. Her husband adds simply, “It’s a real neighborhood.”—E.H.
What does it take to create a successful Design House? Three months, more than a dozen designers and landscape architects, myriad volunteers and vendors, and a public willing to purchase a ticket to venture inside. Oh, and a homeowner who’s willing to leave the house vacant for the duration.
The Design House is not your typical showplace. The home that’s chosen for the annual fundraiser for Charlottesville’s Shelter for Help in Emergency isn’t a palace with perfectly matched rooms sharing a cohesive feel. Instead, it’s a chance for 14 different designers to showcase their individual style within a common set of walls. The sky’s the limit for these stylists, who each start with a blank slate and finish with a room that’s a showpiece of their own making.
“They get to do things they’re not normally allowed to do,” says Sarah Ellis, the Design House coordinator. “Designers love to use colors that aren’t generally chosen. We’ve had chartreuse walls and lime-green furnishings,” she laughs. She says the designers also enjoy getting to work alongside their colleagues as each creates a room of their dreams.
The right conditions
A home selected to be the Design House must be in reasonable condition. This house is not a fixer-upper; it just gets “a freshening up,” Ellis says, where interior walls are washed (and any wallpaper removed), floors refinished and windows cleaned. The exterior gets a powerwashing and a basic landscaping cleanup.
Next, everything is removed before the designers’ trucks start rolling in, carrying everything from light fixtures to floor coverings and artwork to armchairs—all individually chosen by each designer to bring his or her own room to life.
Why would a homeowner participate with no control over the outcome? Ellis says beyond the philanthropic aspect, the owners are left with a home that’s cleaned and freshly painted. (Designers estimate that this year’s 7,000-square-foot house would cost roughly $20,000 to entirely repaint.) The owners can purchase anything they like from the finished rooms. And the designers agree to repaint each room in a neutral color in case the homeowner isn’t keen on some of the more unusual hues.
The exterior is a bit of a different story. If the home is new construction, the homeowners can pay for a permanent landscape design to be left intact after the event. Otherwise, Ellis says the landscapers use a basic event presentation, with shrubs and annuals that are temporarily planted and removed after the tours end, at which point “the trucks start rolling back in and we get everything moved out.”
For all of that effort, Shelter for Help in Emergency raises roughly $75,000 for resources to house and support victims of domestic violence with anything they need, from childcare to counseling and advocacy.
“It’s a wonderful way of spreading the word about the shelter and the work we do. We feel peace on earth begins at home,” Ellis says. “We don’t all get to live in a $1 million house, but we all deserve to live in a place of peace and safety. The people we work with don’t take that for granted.”
The particulars
In addition to exploring the rooms, guests can enjoy seminars on home design, décor and entertaining, a bistro with light snacks, a boutique where they can purchase items for their own home projects and, new this year, an art gallery featuring works from 10 local artists.
The Design House 2016 tours are held May 7-22. Tickets are $20 for a single tour and $45 for unlimited visits. For more information, visit cvilledesign house.com.—Lynn Thorne
DESIGN BY THE NUMBERS
16 The number of designers involved in redecorating the house.
$8,000 The estimated worth of one of the designer’s work hours spent on the event, plus another $3,000-4,000 in paint, window treatments and other finishing touches, according to Sarah Ellis, Design House coordinator.
28 That’s how many volunteers are needed each day to run the event. For a 16-day event, that amounts to 448 volunteer shifts.
14 The number of rooms in this year’s Design House at Keswick Estates.
We first encountered interior decorator Lesli DeVito through her blog, myoldcountryhouse.com, where she showcases her work as a custom pet portrait artist and the artist of a much bigger canvas—her house. An 1880s farmhouse in Greenwood, the home has been lovingly updated with modern amenities and a bright, cheerful interior aesthetic. And DeVito did the bulk of the work herself (that’s kind of her shtick). We asked her to tell us about her biggest design influences, her dream house and what she’ll never DIY.
Antique or modern? Antique, I guess. But I love modern and my home is really more farmhouse antique.
City or country? I live in the country but I long for the city.
Which colors do you gravitate toward? Pink and aqua and white.
Which materials or textures do you frequently use in your own home? Belgian linens and velvet.
What is your favorite interior design-related word? Anchor.
Does your home look like the one you grew up in? No.
What’s one thing that can really transform a room? Lighting.
Favorite designer? Oh, I have so many! Bunny Williams, Katie Ridder, Mary McDonald, David Hicks, Samantha Pynn.
Which design blog, website, TV show or magazine do you peruse religiously? Domino and Living Etc.
Décor-wise, what should a homeowner never scrimp on? Rugs.
Design rule you like to break? I like no-no color combinations like red and pink.
What is your favorite room in the house? I love living rooms.
What is your most treasured possession? My photo albums from 1996 (when my first child was born) up until when things went to all digital are precious to me.
What do you wish you could do without? Trash cans—they drive me nuts because the dogs always go digging around for snacks.
What are you afraid to DIY? Anything electrical I leave for the pros, though I have rewired many lamps.
If you could live in one historical figure’s house, whose would it be? David Hicks’ home, the childhood home of India Hicks.
On what movie set would you like to live? Something’s Gotta Give and The Intern.
If you were reborn as a piece of furniture or an object, what would it be? “Mona Lisa.”
What is your first design memory? Choosing the daisy wallpaper for my bedroom when I was 7.
First things first, current or future homeowner: You need a garage.
“I would say, for sure, 100 percent of our customers want garages,” says Brice Craig of custom home designer Craig Builders.
Really, like 100 percent 100 percent? Not even like one carport somewhere? “I haven’t seen any carports,” Craig says. “For new construction homes, a garage is certainly a must.”
Hard to argue with that.
If you’re looking to build a home or just want to update your existing car barn, here are five things to keep in mind.
Go for dual use
Craig says he’s seeing lots of customers splitting their garage down the middle, making one half storage and the other for cars. Most people are “very in tune to how the car is going to fit and how they are going to use the garage,” he says.
For customers with the space and means, Craig says a three-car garage offers two bays for cars and one for storage.
Chris Shaners, sales manager for Overhead Door Company of Charlottesville, says folks who plan to use at least part of their garage for automobiles have to keep the space more orderly. “They have lots of space and shelves on the walls to store things,” he says. “People that use their garages for storage and don’t park their vehicles in there are usually more in disarray.”
Make it pretty
Garages are looking good nowadays, and Craig and Shaners agree it’s largely due to the fact that carriage-style doors are on trend. They can be painted any shade and are just as pleasing to the eye as the rest of a home.
“I think garages are really cool,” Craig says. “They add some great accents these days. These aren’t your old-school garages.”
Craig says all of the new garages the company is working on are insulated Sheetrock structures with a “finished feel.” Most people are painting their garage interiors, and some homeowners are adding epoxy floors for a polished look and better grip.
Shaners says it’s a natural progression for higher-end homeowners. “When people decide to stay in a house for a long time and they’ve already done the kitchen and bathrooms, now they are renovating the garages,” he says.
According to Craig, all that’s adding up to builders and homeowners wanting to show off their garages. He says he’s seeing more “front load” garages and fewer positioned off to the side of homes.
Link it up
If you have an attached garage, you’re going to want to make the structure work well with the rest of the house, Shaners says.
“If the garage is underneath a living space, you’ll want to insulate the walls and get a better insulated garage door to keep it more at a temperate level,” he says. “You don’t want the living area to get so hot in the summer and so cold in the winter. Detached garages can be non-insulated structures.”
Craig says his customers prefer attached garages, as long as layout allows, and he’s seeing more and more folks including mudrooms or laundry rooms with locker-type storage or cubbies right off the garage so homeowners have a “drop zone.”
Forget your car
Shaners says about 50 percent of Charlottesville residents opt to use their garages strictly for storage—the number gets lower as you head farther north. But that’s just the beginning of what you can do with a garage if you don’t mind leaving your car in the elements.
“We’ve done a few detached garages as woodshops, and some people want kind of a man cave,” Craig says. “It’s a great way to use a garage if you don’t have a basement.”
Shaners says he’s seen garages, even attached garages, designed as extra living spaces. Those homeowners usually go with a glass and aluminum garage door and open it up to create an open-air covered porch.
Go go gadget garage
If you’ve finished your brand new garage and just can’t get enough of that sweet roll-up door, consider taking garage styling elsewhere. Craig says Craig Builders has used garage design principles to create walk-out basements, and the company recently used a vertical door to give a top-floor kitchen a retractable roof.
“The whole roof is wide open to the air,” Craig says. “We thought, ‘How do we create that?’ The answer was a roll-up type garage door.”
A structure as history-soaked as UVA’s Rotunda has many chapters to its story. And, having served as a symbol of the university for nearly 200 years, it’s layered with meaning, too. The Rotunda is currently undergoing a major renovation; much of the exterior will be finished this month, allowing graduates to process around the building during final exercises.
Set to be finished by August, the Rotunda renovation has major practical benefits, certainly: updated utilities, 6,000 square feet of new underground space and better infrastructure so that, for example, Board of Visitors members can get a decent cell signal during meetings.
But this is no ordinary building. Famously designed by Thomas Jefferson, and nearly destroyed by a fire in 1895, it has been imagined and reimagined many times. Current planners are in some sense returning to the source: They aim to make the Rotunda, as Jefferson originally intended, a center of student life.
That might mean bringing it down to earth—for instance, replacing museum-quality antiques with “functional study furnishings” in one meeting room, according to project coordinator Sarita Herman. The Rotunda will host more classes and events, and students will be encouraged to study in the Dome Room on the top floor, previously a rather sacrosanct space.
But the restoration also represents a big boost in quality. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the replacement of the capitals, those carved decorative tops on the Rotunda’s famous white columns, both on the exterior and inside the Dome Room.
Why had the exterior capitals been covered with black fabric for the last several years? It wasn’t to protect them; it was to keep passersby from being hit by falling fragments. “They were really unstable,” says Herman. Installed in the late 19th or early 20th century, the capitals didn’t measure up to the originals, says Brian Hogg, senior preservation planner. “The fine detail was never present, and the way they weathered only exacerbated it.”
New ones were carved by master craftsmen in Italy, who used circa-1870 photos and surviving fragments to recreate the Rotunda’s original capitals.
As stunning as they are, the exterior capitals will never undergo the scrutiny that will greet the ones in the Dome Room. That’s because the public will now have access to the gallery level in that space, putting folks at eye level (and within touching distance) of the new capitals, which are being created by Richmond-based firm Tektonics Design Group.
Made of mahogany, which stands up well to both machining and hand-carving, each new capital is constructed of multiple pieces. “That allowed more detail,” says Tektonics’ Christopher Hildebrand. “We applied advanced manufacturing techniques without having that be evident.”
The process involved building clay models, then digitally scanning them to create programs for milling machines. After the machines complete the first stage of carving the acanthus leaves and other decorative elements, artisans finish and assemble the capitals by hand.
The Dome Room also sports a new plaster ceiling (an upgrade from the existing acoustical tile) that, despite its historically correct appearance, also has sound-absorbing properties. That’ll come in handy if, indeed, students adopt this room as their own.
INTERIOR CAPITALS BY THE NUMBERS
Tektonics is the Richmond- based company charged with building the new Dome Room capitals. It’s no simple task.
7 Number of capitals Tektonics is building per month
40 Total capitals in the project
250-300 Hours each capital requires to build
10,000-12,000 Total hours to build all the capitals
5 People hired for this project
2,000 Total parts to complete the job