Kenneth White, associate dean of UVA’s School of Nursing, says everyone should have an advance directive, so that their loved ones don’t have to make tough decisions around end-of-life care. Photo by Amy Jackson
On the evening of what would have been my grandmother’s 99th birthday, our family raised champagne glasses and toasted her.
“She would have hated turning 99,” my mother said, smiling. We all drank to that.
My grandmother, Edith, had made her wishes clear before passing away under palliative care in her mid-90s. No resuscitation or feeding tubes were allowed. We never had to make any tough decisions—she had already made them for us.
The ways that people choose to approach the end of their lives—and the need to communicate their wishes—is the subject of a documentary film, Being Mortal, which is touring the United States and will be screened at the Paramount Theater at 3pm on March 18, and followed by a panel discussion with experts who will answer questions from the audience.
Kenneth White, associate dean of UVA’s School of Nursing and an expert on end-of-life care, will be part of the panel following the film. I spoke with him the day after my grandmother’s non-99th birthday.
“The whole idea is for people to have the discussion about what they would like were they to be incapacitated or have a life-limited illness,” White says. “We don’t say ‘terminal’ anymore because we’re all born terminal. Some palliative care humor there.”
Often patients prefer every possible means to be taken to lengthen their lives. Others may wish to refuse the discomfort of a feeding tube, or ask not to be given CPR or attached to machines to help them breathe. Ideally, they would have signed some form of a document known as an advance directive
But if no documents are signed and no conversations occur about these decisions, family members may face painful choices as they try to guess at what to do.
White recalls being brought in the previous week to help treat a woman who had suffered a sudden, unexpected stroke.
“She didn’t have capacity to really be able to make decisions for herself,” he says. “…Her prognosis was grave and she wasn’t expected to live too long. My first question of her family that was at her bedside was, ‘Does she have an advance directive, has she spoken with you about what she would want?’ And they said no. This happens frequently. And they said we never talked about it. She was walking and talking and her usual self just a week ago and it never occurred to us that we should have that conversation.”
The time to have the conversation is when people are still healthy, White says.
“If the person makes that decision and puts it down in writing and shares that decision with the family members, then the family members, all they’re doing is honoring their loved one’s wishes,” White says. “They’re not making the decision—they are carrying it out for the person…”
As happy as my family was to carry out Edith’s wishes and keep her from prolonged suffering, she was doing us just as big a favor. By signing an advance directive, she freed us from any moral dilemma or sense of guilt.
Volunteers will also be present at the screening of Being Mortal to help draft advance directives.
WTJU’s “Jazz at 100” host Rus Perry got hooked in the ’70s when he started tracing the origins of jazz. Photo by Keith Alan Sprouse
When Rus Perry arrived at WTJU in 1972, he was really into rock ’n’ roll. But the more he hung out at the station, the more he expanded his musical horizons, playing the latest Bruce Springsteen or Elvis Costello cut next to Ornette Coleman or Blind Lemon Jefferson.
“We learned from each other,” Perry recalls, reading liner notes that led from one artist to another. “My introduction to jazz was curated by friends and acquaintances who knew the music. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he says.
With his “Jazz at 100” series now airing Fridays on WTJU, Perry introduces listeners to the history of recorded jazz—which began 100 years ago, on February 26, 1917, with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues”/“Dixie Jazz Band One-Step” recording. And he knows the music well.
Perry is not a historian or a musician, but he is a deep listener. For years, he commuted to Washington, D.C., by train and filled his alone time with music, sometimes listening for 40 or 50 hours a week.
About eight years ago, Perry started listening chronologically to recorded jazz. He consulted “best-ofs” compiled by scholars and critics and came up with a massive list he’s been working his way through. Perry is up to 2003 now, and he plans to arrive at 2017 in early 2019—the same time when the last of the weekly episodes will air. The 100 shows are organized by theme rather than date.
Perry has amassed a collection of more than 7,000 discs totaling 68,000 unique tracks. He’s watched documentaries and read books of jazz history and criticism, including Scott DeVeaux and Gary Giddins’ Jazz. He’ll listen to something if someone says it’s important. (The exception: Kenny G. “I do not have a single Kenny G record. You may publish that,” says Perry.)
To listen closely to the history of recorded jazz is to listen closely to the last century of American history. Perry says it’s no surprise that a bunch of white guys—the Original Dixieland Jazz Band—made the first jazz recording, despite the fact that jazz was the music of black New Orleans artists. Perry points out that a few black musicians turned down the chance to record, for a number of reasons—cornet player Freddie Keppard feared that fans wouldn’t come to shows if they could just listen to a record at home. Keppard also played with a handkerchief over his hands so no one could see what he was doing on his horn.
Jazz spread throughout America because talented musicians left New Orleans, Perry says, due to economic racial oppression and the diaspora of musicians; they left because New Orleans had no recording studios. Then the rise of big band music corresponded with the rise of radio, and it fell when gas was rationed during World War II—big band travel took a lot of gasoline. When big band music fell, bebop rose. “And then there’s free jazz in the 1960s,” Perry says—it’s not hard to imagine where that came from.
Perry delights in tumbling down the rabbit hole of jazz, learning about alto saxophonist Art Pepper when reading about Charlie Parker. Pepper emerged on the scene after Parker’s death and “killed it” until about 1960 when he disappeared—he went to jail and did an extended stint in rehab before re-emerging in the 1970s to make some of the most “ephemeral and profound” music that Perry will play. “It’s truly profound in its emotional content, and I think that’s one of the things about jazz that moves me the most—this range of emotional possibility. The same music can have profound romantic content and also be intensely angry. It can be cynical, comedic, narrative—there are so many possibilities, and it all comes out of the same musical tradition that evolves over time,” says Perry.
He’s also moved by the uniquely democratic nature of jazz, a medium that “requires individuals to go on stage and listen to each other and interact in a conversation—that’s fundamental to the art form.” It matters that Lester Young and Sweets Edison played in a small group context behind Billie Holiday, and it matters that Holiday often stepped aside to let the band shine.
“Jazz is always moving, always changing, and it never forgets anything. There’s this continuity, not only of pieces, but players and attitudes that builds from one thing to the next over the generations,” Perry says. And if he has anything to do with it, “Jazz at 100” listeners won’t forget, either.
1959: A record year
“Total killer,” a year full of significant records, Rus Perry says. There’s even a BBC documentary titled “1959: The Year that Changed Jazz.”
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out: “Takes jazz improv away from the usual 4/4 time signature, with ‘Take Five’ being one of the most popular jazz tunes ever.”
Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um: “Classic cool jazz.”
Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come: “‘Lonely Woman’ is free jazz.”
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue: “Quintessential, essential modal jazz played by jazz heavyweights Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans. And those solos, man.”
John Coltrane, Giant Steps: “This chord-dense record changed saxophone forever.”
Start Spinning
Perry has listened to thousands of jazz records to prepare for WTJU’s Jazz at 100 series. Here are four picks from the first half of a century of recorded jazz to get you started.
Louis Armstrong, The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (1925-1928) Here, the first great jazz soloist “expands the realm and possibilities of music in a small ensemble setting,” Perry says.
The Blanton-Webster Band(1940-1942) Perry says that this is Duke Ellington’s creative peak. Tenor player Ben Webster and bass player Jimmy Blanton “just kill it,” Perry says. “There are 16 people in this band, but it’s named after the bass player and the tenor player who totally defined the sound. Talk to any jazz fan about this band and they know you’re talking about a three-year period of Duke Ellington.”
Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (1957) A strung-out, white alto sax player from California re-appears on the scene after a stint in jail and records with Miles Davis’ New York-centric rhythm section; they choose material they all know, including “Jazz Me Blues,” first recorded by Bix Beiderbecke in 1927. Pepper is “one of the nakedly emotional players ever,” Perry says. “He’s heard it and you share in that” on this recording.”
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster (1957): “A real instruction about musicians listening to each other, and about the possibility of the tenor saxophone,” Perry says. Hear the extraordinary differences in the two tenor players on “La Rosita” in particular.
John Dewberry told City Council
Charlottesville will reap benefits far exceeding the incentives from having a five-star hotel on its Downtown Mall.
Photo Eze Amos
City Council approved 4-1 a financial assistance package estimated at $1.1 million over 10 years to assist John Dewberry in finishing the derelict hotel that’s loomed over downtown Charlottesville for the past eight years.
The folksy owner of the Landmark Hotel appeared before the council dais March 6. “I’m not used to people seeing my backside in a crowd,” said Dewberry, a former Georgia Tech quarterback, who noted he was born in Waynesboro.
John Dewberry waits for his moment to pitch City Council—about two hours into the meeting. Eze Amos
Dewberry apologized for the delay in movement on the Landmark, which he bought in 2012, and blamed the length of time it took to finish the Dewberry Hotel in Charleston. He promised Charlottesville, too, would have a deluxe hotel, but cautioned, “You can’t do five-star without some help.”
The help he wants from the city for the 110-room, $50 million hotel includes tax breaks on the increased real estate assessments that likely will occur once the project is completed. The city agreed to give Dewberry a 50 percent tax discount on the increased value of the building above its current $6.6 million assessment.
Dewberry also needs parking—75 spaces in the Water Street Garage, which currently has a waiting list for monthly spaces and is involved in litigation between its owners, the city and Mark Brown’s Charlottesville Parking Center.
According to the deal City Council approved, Dewberry will pay at least $40,000 for the first year, paying the city 25 percent of the revenue he generates and keeping 75 percent. Dewberry wants the spaces to be on the garage’s upper deck, and plans to “grow the pie” by cramming even more vehicles into the 75 spaces with valet parking.
Brown, who is suing the city, would only say about the incentives, “It’s certainly an interesting strategy on their part.”
Kristin Szakos was the nay vote against the incentive package. “I’m eager to see the project finished and I’m not against the project,” she says. “I couldn’t quite see the cost-benefit analysis working. It didn’t quite rise to the level of something that the city should invest taxpayer funds in.”
Kristin Szakos, center, cast the only vote against the city subsidizing John Dewberry’s hotel. Eze Amos
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy also asked why the city should give a tax break to a “multi-millionaire” when it hasn’t to other projects.
A five-star hotel is more labor intensive and capital intensive, answered Dewberry, who pointed out that two-star hotels don’t have doormen or valets waiting to park cars.
Bellamy also asked about how the low-income jobs will benefit the city. Dewberry said that while he may not make a huge profit on his five-star restaurant, the people working there “get tipped well.”
Councilor Bob Fenwick was concerned about the structural integrity of the building, which Dewberry said he’d had checked out by a friend who has a Ph.D. in engineering.
Mayor Mike Signer, who campaigned on getting the Landmark finished, said, “People are furious about this situation.” He told Dewberry he appreciated his “note of contrition,” and said he believes the negotiated assistance will be a good deal for the city in the long term.
About that point, Dewberry returned to the dais and asked if the city was being “rude” to him. “Will you spell my name right?” he asked. On-screen, where the meeting was being broadcast, he was identified as “Dewbury.”
Councilor Kathy Galvin wanted a bond to assure Dewberry completes the project and doesn’t let it sit unfinished another 10 years. He said that would be too expensive, but agreed to sell the property if he doesn’t have a certificate of occupancy by 2021. “It’s critical this project move forward,” she said.
Cavaliers Kyle Guy and London Perrantes are Hoos with the 'dos.
Photos Matt Riley
What about London Perrantes?
The New York Post said first-year Hoo Kyle Guy has the best hairdo in college basketball for his man bun/top knot hybrid, but Perrantes’ high-top fade is pretty impressive, too.
ACC bummer
The Cavs exited the tournament in the quarterfinals March 9 after losing 58-71 to Notre Dame. But UVA got a nod and a No. 5 seed from the NCAA, and will play No. 12 seed UNC-Wilmington March 16.
“A five-seed is nothing to scoff at.”
—UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett
Kill bills
The General Assembly laid to rest 1,355 of the 2,335 bills introduced in the 2017 session. Of those killed, more than half—777—died with no recorded votes, according to Virginia Public Access Project. That’s better than last year, when 73 percent disappeared without a trace of how legislators voted.
Bell’s run
Rob Bell. Photo Amy Jackson
Republican Delegate Rob Bell said he’ll seek a ninth term in the General Assembly. First-timer Kellen Squire, an ER nurse who lives in Barboursville, quietly announced a run as a Dem and is the first since 2009 to challenge Bell in the 58th District.
Parking war casualties
Charlottesville Parking Center laid off seven employees following the announcement that Atlanta-based Lanier Parking will manage the Market Street Garage. CPC was disqualified from bidding on the contract, says GM Dave Norris. “The city was playing politics with Mark Brown trying to get one up on him.” The laid-off employees could be hired by Lanier, he adds.
Office space
The Downtown Mall is probably the first place you’d take an out-of-town friend, shop for a quirky gift and snag a bite to eat because it’s a good mix of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. But, believe it or not, the majority of space on the mall is uncharted territory for the public—offices. C-VILLE’s office is there. Author John Grisham looks out from a second-floor space and, among others, Borrowed & Blue, Silverchair Information Systems, WillowTree and Merkle (formerly RKG) are all on the mall.
Here’s how the business mix breaks down:
31% office
22% retail
18% condo/apartment
7% restaurant
22% other
Happening places
Of the 190 storefronts on the Downtown Mall, only 1.05 percent are vacant, which is lower than the peak vacancy rate of 9 percent in both July 2009 and January 2010 during the recession, and the current national average of 9.6 percent. As you can see from the list on the right, other shopping centers in town are on par.
Preston Plaza: 0% vacant
Seminole Square: 0% vacant
Downtown Mall: 1.05% vacant
The Corner: 1.61% vacant
McIntire Plaza: 2.17% vacant
Barracks Road Shopping Center: 4.71% vacant
All together, Charlottesville’s January vacancy rate was 1.78 percent, the lowest since the city began its biannual vacancy study almost a decade ago.
—All figures provided by the City of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development
More than 2,000 turned out for Charlottesville’s rally to support the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., January 21. Photo by Ryan Jones
Charlottesville is no stranger to protests. The city’s Free Speech Wall is a testament to the First Amendment and a frequent gathering spot for citizens exercising their right to assemble.
That said, we’ve never seen anything like this.
Since the election of Donald Trump as president, at least seven new groups have sprung up, and a couple of more were formed during 2016. Mayor Mike Signer declared Charlottesville the “capital of the resistance” at a January 31 rally, and it’s hard to keep up with the ongoing protests.
“I see resistance as a broad spectrum, ranging from making donations to organizations that stand for American values to joining a protest to calling a congressman to changing a friend’s mind to supporting a lawsuit to embracing a member of a vulnerable and victimized population,” says Signer.“What’s happening in Charlottesville at this very moment encompasses this whole spectrum,” he says.
From women’s rights to immigrant rights to racial justice to health care, there’s one or more groups focusing on the issue and they’ve all come to a boil since Trump’s inauguration. And that’s on top of longstanding, local re-energized groups like Charlottesville NOW, Virginia Organizing and Legal Aid Justice Center.
The left has the bulk of the new groups, but there’s also resistance from the far, so-called “alt-right,” which many local activists call white nationalists.
“Of course this is unprecedented,” says the Center for Politics’ Larry Sabato. “But, then again, we’ve never had a president like Trump.”
Sabato says it usually takes years for opposition to build to a significant level, as it did for President Herbert Hoover once America had suffered through years of the Great Depression, or LBJ because of the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon, who took office in January 1969, didn’t see a big anti-war rally until October of that year.
“The largest demonstrations were for civil rights in the 1960s,” says Sabato, and were not directed against any president. Also huge were the anti-war demonstrations following Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia in May 1970, he says.
“I expect that these activities will evolve as the threats evolve,” says Signer. “I’m incredibly proud to be a member of a community with so much resistance happening on so many levels.”
Who’s protesting what? Here’s C-VILLE Weekly’s guide to the resistance.—with additional reporting by Samantha Baars
Together Cville has weekly potlucks at IX Art Park. Photo by Eze Amos
Together Cville
Issue: Make sure the vulnerable in our community are safe with access to resources
Motto: Keep strong and fight together
Event: Weekly potluck on Sundays from 5:30-7pm at IX Art Park
Supporters: 670 on e-mail list; 60 to 100 at potlucks
Info: togethercville.net
Quote:“Our goal is to resist the current regime’s agenda. The promise of America is the freedom to pursue flourishing lives.”—Nathan Moore
Together Cville started the day after the election as a way of “channeling the anger and disappointment into something useful,” says Moore. The group takes a multipronged approach, he says, and is in touch with other groups. It also has produced a calendar of local activist events. And the Sunday potlucks, he says, are “rejuvenating.”
Together Cville Women’s Group
Origin: Pantsuit Nation
Issue: Meeting place to gather volunteers,
learn about protests
Event: Monthly first Saturday meeting from 4-6pm at the Friends Quaker Meeting House, 1104 Forest St.
Supporters: 200 followers on Facebook; works with other groups such as Together Cville
Quote: “I think a lot of us got to the point it was overwhelming, there were so many issues, so now we help find your passion.”—Dianne Bearinger
Bearinger, who grew up in the ’60s and has been an activist all her life, says, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Activism “hasn’t felt like a choice to me because so much I care about is threatened.” She lists the environment and seeing rising sea levels where she grew up in New Jersey, friends in the Islamic community who feel threatened, friends
raising black sons and feeling vulnerable, and the Affordable Care Act, which Bearinger depends on for health care.
Indivisible Charlottesville members are weekly regulars at the Berkmar Crossing office of Congressman Tom Garrett. Photo by Eze Amos
Indivisible Charlottesville
Origin: Indivisible Guide written by former congressional staffers
Issue: Get Congress to listen to a vocal minority
Strategy: Protest style borrows from the
Tea Party playbook
Event: Weekly Tuesday protests from noon-1:30pm at U.S. Representative Tom Garrett’s office at Berkmar Crossing, and the group held a town hall meeting February 26 without Garrett, who was in Germany
Supporters: 3,500 on Facebook; 1,600 on e-mail list; 200-250 people at weekly protests
Info: facebook.com/indivisiblecharlottesville
Quote: “We had a lot of people at the beginning who can organize and people who can volunteer 10 hours a week. We’re figuring out how to channel that volunteer energy.”—David Singerman
Indivisible Charlottesville reserved a room at the Central Library January 28, expecting 100 people might show up, says Singerman. Instead, about 500 showed up, the event moved to The Haven and “the roller coaster began,” he says. While Garrett has been a vocal Trump supporter, he isn’t the only one in Congress the group is pressuring. Virginia’s two Democratic senators have also heard from Indivisible, says Singerman. “Trump has thrown unexpected curveballs,” he says. “There won’t be any shortage of issues.”
Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America
Inspired by: The Bern
Issues: Living wage, affordable housing,
universal health care
Strategy: Going to public meetings and
voicing opinions
Supporters: 30 to 40 at the group’s first public meeting February 15
Info: facebook.com/CvilleDSA
Quote: “It’s a political ideology focusing on the importance of social and economic equities,
collective decision-making and ownership.”—Lewis Savarese
The national Democratic Socialists of America organization started in 1982, but the socialist tradition in the U.S. goes back to the early 20th century, when Eugene Debs ran for president five times. More recently, Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign reignited interest in democratic socialism and the local group hopes to tap into that energy. “Currently the system panders to certain interest groups, like corporations,” says Savarese. “We believe we can bring more people into the political process.”
A demonstration got loud February 11 when candidate for governor Corey Stewart showed up to denounce City Council’s vote to remove the state of General Robert E. Lee from Lee Park, and members of SURJ showed up in counterprotest. Photo by Eze Amos
Showing Up for Racial Justice
Inspired by: Last July’s police shootings of unarmed black men Philando Castile and Alton Sterling
Issue: Getting more white people to focus on racial justice
Strategy: Mobilize quickly and use a diversity of tactics to show zero-tolerance for white supremacists
Event: SURJ members were in former Trump campaign Virginia chair/GOP gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart’s face when he came to Charlottesville February 11 to denounce City Council’s vote to remove the General Robert E. Lee statue.
Supporters: 980 Facebook followers; 350 on e-mail list
Info: facebook.com/surjcville
Quote: “It’s white people’s job to undermine white supremacists.”—Pam Starsia
Protests are not SURJ’s only way of combating racism. The group co-sponsored a February 21 workshop on gentrification, zoning and form-based code with the local NAACP, Legal Aid Justice Center and Public Housing Association of Residents. And SURJ admonished the local media not to normalize fringe racist groups who call themselves “alt-right” without defining them as white supremacists or white nationalists.
heARTful Action
Issue: How to do the activism thing and do it in a healthy way
Event: Monthly workshops on aspects of activism and self-care on the last Saturday of the month from 3-5pm at Friends Quaker Meeting House
Supporters: 200 on Facebook; connected to Together Cville, Together Cville Women’s Group and Indivisible Charlottesville
Info: focuspocusnow.com/category/heartful-action
Quote: “It feels like this time we can’t think our way out of it. We need to feel in our bones what we want to create and that requires integration of body and mind.”—Susan McCulley
McCulley and two friends were already thinking about small workshops on art and mindfulness. “Then the election happened,” she says. HeARTful Action wants to help people navigate the new landscape in a way that is creative and mindful.
Charlottesville Gathers
Issue: Active bystander intervention
Event: Rally to support the Women’s March on Washington January 21 at IX Art Park
Supporters: The rally brought more than 2,000 pussy cap-wearing attendees
Info: facebook.com/CharlottesvilleGathers
Quote: “We intend to be a convener of training and inspirational events to equip Charlottesville and its citizens to be the capital of the resistance.”—Gail Hyder Wiley
Wiley joined up with teacher Jill Williams to organize the rally. At this point, she says it’s pretty much just her, but she’s ready to provide support to other groups.
Cville Rising
Issue: Clean energy implementation, pipelines
Current action: Working closely with Buckingham County’s Union Hill community and activist group Friends of Buckingham to prevent the construction of a noisy compressor station, which is being proposed in tandem with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Allies: Friends of Nelson, Friends
of Buckingham, Friends of
Augusta, EPIC, Together Cville
Supporters: 30 frequent volunteers; 300-person e-mail list
Info: cvillerising.com
Though the group didn’t officially form until the end of last year—after the
presidential election of a man who
supports the construction of major fracked gas pipelines, though a spokesperson says it was unrelated—Cville Rising has been operating under the radar for a year and a half. Its mission is to bring awareness and connect Charlottesville to the environmental woes in surrounding counties.
Equity and Progress in Charlottesville
Inspired by: Again, Bernie
Issue: Elect local candidates to make bold changes to eliminate racial and economic
disparities
Event: Held second meeting February 27 to find and support candidates to run for office
Supporters: About 150 showed up at first meeting
Info: epiccville.org
Quote: “We aimed exclusively at local issues and changing the power relationship.”—Jeff Fogel
EPIC was already in the works before the election, but “I think the response we’ve gotten is in large part a function of the election,” says Fogel, who is the group’s first candidate and is running for commonwealth’s attorney. EPIC boasts former city officials, including former mayor Dave Norris and former councilor Dede Smith, who are ready to support candidates who traditionally haven’t been part of the political process.
Mayor Mike Signer held a rally January 31 and declared Charlottesville the capital of the resistance. Unity and Security for America’s Jason Kessler held his own vocal counter-demonstration at the same event. Photo by Eze Amos
Unity and Security for America
Issue: Defending Western civilization while dismantling cultural Marxism
Events: Meetings every Wednesday at 7pm at the Central Library
Supporters:At least two [Its president, Jason Kessler, did not respond to requests for information.]
Mascot: Pepe the frog
Info: usactionpac.org
Quote: “[Wes Bellamy] then proceeded to attack the Robert E. Lee monument, which is of ethnic significance to Southern white people.”—Jason Kessler
Kessler, whose claim to fame is unearthing Bellamy’s vulgar tweets and petitioning to have him removed from office because of the tweets and his call to relocate Confederate statues, has attracted statewide white heritage protectors, including former Trump state campaign manager and candidate for governor Corey Stewart.
The latest issue of Abode features a Shenandoah Valley home with everything to hide, a minimalist kitchen in Albemarle, the best performance fabrics and more. Here’s what’s inside:
On a clear day, the furthest visible point from this month’s featured home is 35 miles away. Needless to say, the view—a panorama of the Alleghenies—was of utmost importance to the homeowners, who bought the property 30 years ago and waited to build their dream home. Read more here.
This month’s featured kitchen:
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
When the homeowners of this Albemarle property bought their home in 2011, they knew some work was required to get the house’s interior—an unbalanced, choppy space—to match the serene exterior. Opening up the cramped galley kitchen was high on their list of priorities. Read more here.
Living abroad for decades gives you a special perspective on home. So does waking up every morning to a fantastic view. For one local couple, 30 years in various foreign countries was the prelude to a new chapter: retirement on a hilltop in Steeles Tavern, just a handful of miles from where the husband grew up. A modern home designed by Katherine Grove provides the setting—and the backdrop—for a lively collection of art and artifacts reflecting all those years overseas.
The view from this property, which the couple purchased some 30 years ago, is truly stunning: a panorama of the Alleghenies, the Blue Ridge and rolling forest and farmland. On a clear day, the furthest point visible is 35 miles away. “We came home from Brazil and wanted to buy some land,” remembers the owner. “We took a look at this view, and said, ‘We’ll take it.’ It was love at first sight.”
For a long time, the 160-acre plot was a place for the owners to visit with their children, sit on plastic lawn chairs and dream of a future house. They moved among various countries, including Brazil, Nigeria and France, always renting their dwellings, and when the time finally came to build their own house, they’d had many years to think about what they wanted.
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Train cars
When they saw a magazine photo of a modern home designed by Grove, and realized she is based in Charlottesville, they knew they’d found their architect. Her style, using clean lines and simple shapes, fit well with the super-energy-efficient houses—called Passive Houses—that they’d admired in Austria.
Given that the house would be visible to many neighbors at lower elevations, “We wanted it to be subtle to the landscape,” says the owner, “not to look like Tara on the hill.” Yet they also wanted the ability to put up guests in comfort and privacy for long-term visits.
“It was very exposed; it was already a grass knoll,” says Grove. “The question was, how to hunker down?” She envisioned a series of volumes that would stay low to the ground, with nearly flat roofs, and take advantage of the slope to “bury” the guest rooms into the hillside.
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Another major challenge was that the main part of the view faces west—great for watching sunsets, but tough on energy usage, as afternoon sun pours through the biggest windows and brings heat and glare. “We notched down the amount of glass,” says Grove. For example, the living area originally had a wall of windows, but now has a solid wall. (Being open to the kitchen and dining room, it borrows their daylight.)
Her clients were set on living outdoors as much as possible, and this suggested to Grove the basic scheme of the house: “three train cars that followed the distinctive curves of the ridge.” Between the garage “car” and the central “car” is a breezeway that invites owners and guests to lounge near an outdoor fireplace and drink in the view. That opening also serves as a frame on part of the view, like a living landscape painting that stops visitors in their tracks upon arrival.
The third “car,” housing the master suite, office and lower-level guest rooms, is joined to the central one at an angle. This changes the focus of the view from different rooms, and adds, Grove says, a sense of visual interest on a smaller scale than the massive vista outside. “It’s a nod to courtyard houses around the world—in Asia, Italy, Germany—or hill towns, where the buildings are never at right angles. You get these fun trapezoidal spaces.”
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
A house that isn’t there
Aesthetically, in many ways the house aims to disappear. Its exterior, clad mostly in sage-green fiber-cement panels, recedes into the bucolic surroundings. Inside, white walls and concrete floors serve as a cool, neutral backdrop to the owners’ globally influenced collections. There are masks and a carved wooden throne from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, an antique Dutch travel chest and specimens of Brazilian amethyst. Colorful molas from Panama keep company with African raffia mats and modern Brazilian furniture.
Every space has its designated pieces. The hallway in the bedroom wing serves as a “cabinet of curiosities,” holding everything from books to feather fans to German beer steins. “We wanted to create a gallery that could change over time,” says Grove. She made the space wide enough so that the objects can be comfortably viewed, and added east-facing windows to provide flashes of the exterior.
Brazilian tigerwood flooring distinguishes this zone from the concrete-floored public areas, where kitchen, living and dining flow together in one space that revels in the view. French doors and large windows bring the mountains inside the kitchen. Its spare arrangement of cherry cabinets and a chunky island topped with soapstone make for a warm but minimal place to gather, and a bar-height table invites the owners’ many houseguests to sit and gaze outside.
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Yet, for all the appeal of the interior, the owners say the breezeway is where they spend their best times. A ledgerock fireplace, decorated by a large rock studded with starfish and trilobite fossils, is the focal point. It’s surrounded by Western red cedar siding, which brings warmth to this spot and breaks up the green exterior panels at various other points along the façade.
Three seasons a year, the owners are here eating al fresco meals, stargazing, swimming and lounging by the fire. And always, they’re captivated by the movement of shadows and light over the landscape, revealed and framed by Grove’s design. Says the owner, “I’ve probably taken about a thousand pictures.”
The breakdown
3,000 square feet
Structural system: Insulated wood frame walls
with additional exterior 5 1/2″ EPS rigid insulation; structural insulated panel roof system
Exterior material: Fiber cement panels and cedar siding
Interior finishes: Painted gypsum wall board with maple trim, maple hardwood flooring and sealed concrete floors
Roof materials: EPDM roofing membrane
Window system: Triple-glazed Klearwall Ecoclad
Mechanical systems: ERV with mini-split system
Design: urbanGROVE Studio, PLLC with Liminal Architecture
The Asian influences can be seen in the kitchen's material and color choices: black granite countertops and backsplash echo black stools, chairs and pendant lighting; a neutral paint color helps walls and cabinetry blend in. Photo: Virginia Hamrick
The secluded feel of one Albemarle home is signaled by the two large urns that flank the driveway. “It’s like you’re entering this quiet park,” says kitchen designer Karen Turner. The house itself, a low-slung dwelling that sits amongst trees, has an equally serene feel. When the owners bought the property in 2011, they knew had some work to do to make the interior —particularly the kitchen—match that hushed, understated tone outdoors.
Just inside the front door is a wide hallway, and previously, doorways opened on both sides almost as soon as one entered. “This was very chopped up,” says the owner. Turner helped reconfigure the layout so that the first portion of the hallway is unbroken by doors. “We tried to create balance and alignment with the doorways. It allowed this hallway to have furniture, and turned it into a really gracious entry.”
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
One of those old doors led to the kitchen—a cramped, galley-style cook space closed off from the rest of the house. Now, arrival in the kitchen happens via the dining room, and there is a sense of entering a special and distinct space.
“The house presented itself as having an Asian flavor,” says Turner—a feel that appealed to her clients, who have traveled widely and especially appreciate Southeast Asia. “We set about making the inside look like it went with the outside.”
“The feeling you get here is very peaceful,” says the owner. She wanted the renovation to honor that feeling and heighten the connection to the beautiful outdoor surroundings. With Shelter Associates as the contractor, Turner recommended opening up the wall between the kitchen and dining area, creating an adjacent breakfast nook, and enclosing a small screened porch to function as sitting area and mudroom.
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Once the wall was removed, says Turner, “It was easy to get alignment.” A large center island defines the kitchen layout, providing seating for the owners’ frequent guests while protecting cooking space. Cabinets wrap around the room on two sides and continue into the breakfast nook, which is outfitted with a bar sink, fridge and wine cave.
“This is an intimate, traditional place to have breakfast,” says Turner. The nook is distinct from the much more formal dining room, with windows but no doors to the exterior. But the team greatly enlarged the doors that connect the dining space with the porch outside, creating nearly a full wall of glass that lets the views and light pour into both dining room and kitchen.
These rooms are generously proportioned, with high ceilings, but they feel inviting and comfortable thanks to the thought behind every detail. One example might escape the conscious notice of many visitors, but ties together the whole public wing of the house: There was already a transom window above the doors that lead to the porch from the living room. Turner realized that the transom should repeat in the dining room and again over the cased opening into the kitchen. That subtle move “created continuity,” says Turner.
The quiet, Asian vibe arises through material and color choices. Black granite countertops echo black stools and chairs, and the simple, minimal backsplash is made from the same stone. Calm, neutral paint colors from Farrow & Ball help cabinetry, walls and trim blend and recede. An existing hardwood floor needed only refinishing.
The cabinet pulls and knobs are made from German bronze and have an aged look. “It goes with this feeling of being settled,” says Turner. The brassy tone shows up again as the inside finish on two large black pendant lights, sourced from Visual Comfort.
Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Cabinets, built by Willis Woodworks in a Shaker style, are aesthetically quiet but include many conveniences, from tray storage to under-counter bar fridges disguised as drawers.
Ultimately, say both clients and designer, the true star of the show is the outdoor environment. “We were trying not to compete with nature,” says the owner. “I had a riotous house before; I’m trying to be more minimalist. And I do feel more peaceful in this space.”
In Belmont’s newest addition, reclaimed wood is everywhere—from former floor joists as the downstairs bar’s façade to wormy chesnut on the bartop. Some of the tables are made from an ash tree felled on the property. Photo: Stephen Barling
For Adam Frazier and Greg Jackson, the renovation of a one-time grocery store in the heart of downtown Belmont wasn’t just about the building itself, or the restaurant that they created there. It was also about the fabric of the neighborhood.
“This is the center point of Belmont,” says Frazier, who owns The Local restaurant, a stone’s throw away. Jackson, an architect, also owns property nearby, including the building that houses Tavola. Both had feared that when this building—a commercial space with two apartments, roughly a century old—went up for sale, it would be torn down to make way for newer development.
“We have a connection and an investment in Belmont,” says Jackson. Both enjoy preserving old buildings and, though Frazier wasn’t even sure how he would use the property, he bought it and committed to renovating it in 2013.
Photo: Stephen Barling
Despite boarded-up front windows and decades of deferred maintenance, the building already had plenty of charm. A second-story porch over the front entrance, and a first-story wraparound porch, suggested a vibe somewhere between New Orleans and the Old West. As Frazier came to the decision that he would indeed make this an eatery called Junction—with chef Melissa Close-Hart dishing up modern Mexican cuisine—he and Jackson began to envision the details that would make the renovation sing.
On each of the two floors, the building essentially has two large boxy rooms. With exposed brick walls and pressed-tin ceilings, these historic front rooms have a spacious saloon feel. The team wanted to preserve that layout, but the facility would also need functional space: kitchen, bathrooms, storage and a wide stairwell connecting the floors.
Jackson’s solution was a rear addition, part of it cantilevered, to hold the utilitarian spaces. “It stands off from the original building; it’s intended to be contemporary,” says Jackson of the corrugated metal-clad addition. A wall of glass in the stairwell is a modern touch that also makes a trip up or down the steps into a light-filled “wow moment,” as Frazier puts it, offering a view over downtown Belmont.
Photo: Stephen Barling
Throughout the building, the goal was to let the original details shine where possible, while making sure that any new materials would contribute to a rustic aesthetic. Reclaimed wood is everywhere—some of it from right in this building, like the former floor joists that became the face of the downstairs bar. The bartop is reclaimed wormy chestnut, the back bar is roof sheathing from an 1840s cabin, and some tables are made from an ash tree taken down right on the property.
Frazier went all out, having pine floors laid with hand-cut antique nails, and installing Saltillo tile with hand-painted accents behind the bar. “Over time, that tile patinas in a way that gives it real character,” says Frazier. Bar coolers—even the handles—are wrapped in copper. New windows are fitted with special glass panes that imitate the wavy look of aged glass.
The team stripped and repointed all the exterior brick, and while cleaning the interior brick walls, discovered a painted “DRINK PEPSI-COLA” sign probably dating to around 1920. “Once we saw that, we were careful to keep it,” says Jackson, who even located the bar in the other room so that the Pepsi sign could remain as visible as possible. Another sign discovered on the exterior—“H.W. BURFORD FANCY GROCERIES”—got replicated in a second-floor seating area that needed some punch.
Jackson expanded the second-floor porch so that it wraps around like the lower one, designing period-appropriate railings. With the outdoor tables that will perch here, the restaurant can seat 250 people, and Junction saw a busy opening weekend in late January.
The team considered more than just customers, though. Finishing the formerly dirt-floored basement allowed for proper offices and an employee shower. Stairs lead to the parking lot with permeable pavers, meant to prevent stormwater from leaving the property. Retail spaces, tucked into the hillside next door to the restaurant, share the parking and are designed so that someday, Frazier can expand upward.
If and when he does, he intends to do right by the Belmont streetscape. “The restaurant had beautiful bones,” he says. “This was a real opportunity to make an impact.”
The new Environmental Studies Academy building accommodates students learning geology, earth science, biology, horticulture, water chemistry and more. Photo: Ansel Olson
It’s tough to squeeze the entire planet into one classroom. But Western Albemarle High School and architects VMDO have come as close as possible with the school’s new Environmental Studies Academy building, which blends indoors and outdoors, classroom and greenhouse.
On a 40-year-old Crozet campus last expanded in the ’90s, “there was just no way we could support and house an academy here without having additional space,” says Adam Mulcahy, the academy’s director since its creation four years ago. Even after refitting a classroom and an old prep room, and spilling out into the hallway between them, the ESA and its students still needed more space.
In 2015, Albemarle County enlisted VMDO’s principal architect, Ken Thacker, to give the ESA a new home. Thacker met with students multiple times to incorporate their feedback, and credits them as its “co-designers.” Mulcahy says students tackled that responsibility enthusiastically, laying out plans and 3-D printing models of their ideas.
“Ultimately,” Thacker says, “we chose a site farther from the high school that locates the greenhouse adjacent to an existing outdoor garden and places the building on the edge of the wooded campus, allowing the ESA to act as a gateway or a threshold to the natural world.”
After a few initial hurdles, the new building went up fast. Mathers Construction of Waynesboro broke ground in fall 2015. Students moved into the greenhouse in late March 2016, and the classroom in late spring.
The ESA building splits its 2,500 square feet evenly between a bright, open classroom and a state-of-the art greenhouse from Indiana-based Winandy. The building faces south to capture the winter sun, with a wall of windows and open-air deck connecting students to nature. “It makes the space feel so much bigger than it actually is,” Mulcahy says.
Photo: Ansel Olson
Clear lines of sight let a teacher at the front of the classroom simultaneously monitor students in the greenhouse, on the deck and in the garden below. Mulcahy says the space is built for collaboration: “It facilitates kids in small groups or pods working all over the place.”
With high-tech climate controls, the greenhouse can support nearly any project students choose—tilapia one season, tomatoes the next, for example. “We’re not a business that’s just pumping out green peppers,” Mulcahy says. “We’re changing from season to season and year to year.”
In its third year of instruction, the ESA comprises 105 students, with plans for a full cohort of 160-175 by year five. Freshmen study geology, geography and earth science. Sophomores learn biology and horticulture. Juniors delve into soil and water chemistry and environmental studies. Next year, Mulcahy will add law, policy and literature, teaching the ESA’s first senior class on environmental ethics and stewardship. “I want my kids to be a lot more aware, and to be more conscientious citizens,” he says.
The new Environmental Studies Academy building was made to keep growing. Its design can accommodate potential future expansions on its north and west sides. One day, Mulcahy hopes, even the parking lot between the school and the new building will become another garden for students to tend.
For now, each class adds new beds, fencing or infrastructure to the existing garden, planting seeds—literal and otherwise—for the students who’ll follow them. The more students participate in the process of building the ESA and shaping its future, Mulcahy says, the more they’re invested in it. Like the new building itself, “it wasn’t something that just showed up,” he says. “It was something that they’ve helped create.”
The new Environmental Studies Academy building accommodates students learning geology, earth science, biology, horticulture, water chemistry and more.
