On Architecture


Fry's Spring Service Station to get tasty tune-up Published on Jan 18th, 2010 31 comments The historic Fry's Spring Service Station is set to become a gourmet pizza restaurant in March. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR After a 70-year run servicing cars, the historic Fry’s Spring Service Station is...
Avon demo debris dumped at demolisher's Published on Jan 7th, 2010 29 comments A Parham Construction dump truck arrives at owner Ronnie Parham's residence on Route 20 South January 7 with a load of debris from the Avon Street sawmill demo. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR At least since...
Avon demo commences Published on Dec 22nd, 2009 29 comments Halfway down, as of the morning of December 23. PHOTO BY MARY HUNTER A familiar sight from the Belmont Bridge for over a hundred years began to come down today–- the former Charlottesville...
Auto wash open: Clean design, clean cars Published on Dec 18th, 2009 6 comments University Car Wash on Ivy Road reminds us of something. PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE The University Car Wash on Ivy Road, which has enthralled Hook shutterbugs since it started going up, officially turned...
Snap: Remaking the crosswalks Published on Dec 17th, 2009 1 comments A contractor jack-hammers out a cobblestoney set of concrete pavers Wednesday, December 16, installed as part of an early 1990s Corner district overhaul. The city is now overhauling many crosswalks...
Worth the wait? 2009 highlights in architecture Published on Dec 17th, 2009 1 comments Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris celebrates the completion of the Mall re-bricking project, while the uncompleted Landmark looms. FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR Quite a few additions to our physical...
BAR to demolisher: "Put back what you took out..." Published on Dec 15th, 2009 17 comments Downtown Mall property owner Joe Gieck, who demolished the historic store front of the former Victory Shoe Store at 219 West Main Street without a permit or BAR review, appeared The store front at...
Visual History Tour: Vinegar Hill destruction 2.0 Published on Dec 15th, 2009 11 comments Behind the Lewis & Clark statue, the Mooney Oldsmobile building, which is now an antique shop on the corner of Ridge-McIntire and West Main, survived; but the UR Next Hat Shop, The Midway...
Snap: Crozet house whacked for no library Published on Dec 12th, 2009 9 comments This is the house torn down last year for the planned Crozet replacement library, a $10 million, 20,000 square-foot behemoth that has now been removed from the County's 5-year CIP, or Capital...
Down and out: Un-development to claim old sawmill Published on Dec 8th, 2009 20 comments This building adjacent to the Belmont Bridge, once home to Charlottesville Lumber at the turn of the century, is scheduled for demolition. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR After over a hundred years, a familiar...
Victory demo: crushing for founder's granddaughter Published on Nov 27th, 2009 28 comments Downtown's Victory Shoe Store, as Ethel Crowe remembers it from her childhood. HISTORIC PHOTO While the unceremonious demolition of the art-deco glass storefront of the old Victory Shoe Store on...
Snap: Wild car wash taking shape Published on Nov 26th, 2009 1 comments The high-tech University Car Wash continues to take shape on Ivy Road. Seen here November 17. Last depicted two or three weeks ago.
Funky connector to fall Published on Nov 24th, 2009 0 comments A covered pedestrian bridge linking two towering Jefferson Park Avenue medical office buildings owned by UVA will be torn down to improve access to the 11th Street Parking Garage and the children's...
Building on Jefferson: UVA moves forward with the past Published on Nov 22nd, 2009 1 comments "At first, I hated Cabell Hall," said UVA architectual history professor Richard Guy Wilson, "But the purpose of the big building, I finally realized, was to keep students on the Lawn." PHOTO BY DAVE...
Store-afront: Mall store demo done without approval Published on Nov 13th, 2009 39 comments This glass storefront at 219 East Main Street was recently demolished–- without BAR approval. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR On Monday, November 9, Downtown Mall mavens, along with City development...
Hatton farewell? End looms for America's last poled ferry Published on Nov 10th, 2009 16 comments "It's a serene, beautiful place," says Hatton Ferry pole man Ashley Pillar. FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER For nearly 140 years the Hatton Ferry has been taking passengers across the James River near...
Wash portal rises Published on Nov 5th, 2009 1 comments Over on Old Ivy Road, a new futuristic car wash is taking shape, which will eventually look like this. Owner Matt Bascomb, who also owns Clean Machine Car Wash on Pantops, hopes the new high-tech car...
Urban blight: Group seeks fix for Main Street, Amtrak lot Published on Nov 2nd, 2009 27 comments The owners of the Amtrak parking lot have graded and filled potholes, but have never paved the lot. FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER Although there have been many big plans for the revitalization of West...
W&L students busted at DeJarnette Published on Oct 17th, 2009 1 comments The Waynesboro paper has the story of flashlight fun gone awry at the old sanatorium. Apparently, some W&L students got caught sneaking around the spooky place, which has become the thing to do...
Going down: 'California look' duplexes doomed Published on Oct 16th, 2009 6 comments One of eight 1979-style duplexes on Longwood Drive that has a date with a wrecking ball. PHOTO FROM CITY WEBSITE To make way for a re-development on Longwood Drive, a cul-de-sac off Harris Road...
Going down: Pay here no more forever Published on Oct 15th, 2009 0 comments Developer Keith Woodard has applied for a permit to demolish the familiar toll booth at his First and Main parking lot off the Downtown Mall. For years, there’s been no attendant in the booth, which...
New hospital topped off in style Published on Oct 14th, 2009 3 comments At a "topping off" ceremony this morning the final steel beam was secured on the new 500,000 square foot, $275 million Martha Jefferson Hospital on Pantops Mountain, which is expected to open in 2012...
Snap: Replacement car wash Published on Oct 14th, 2009 0 comments The new University Car Wash is starting to rise as this September 28 photo (it looks pretty much the same today) indicates.
Crossfields estate: building green, re-creating the past Published on Oct 13th, 2009 0 comments For two years now, Heartwood Corporation has been re-creating an 1830's Federal-style estate in Keswick, just down Route 22, that has meticulously reproduced the past while incorporating all the most...
Designer bees: Marathon session for architects, artists Published on Oct 2nd, 2009 7 comments Abby Larner helps create a new logo for CvilleRail at the second annual Design Marathon. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR “The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create 11 design projects in 12...
Elvis Perkins In Dearland Published on Sep 29th, 2009 0 comments Haunted singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins' father died of AIDS after portraying serial killer Norman Bates in Psycho, and his mother was on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center...
Going down: Apartments felled for new frat house Published on Sep 22nd, 2009 6 comments The apartment building was half gone at 1:59pm. PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER The first new fraternity house to be built at UVA in over 50 years got a big pre-groundbreaking ceremony of sorts Tuesday,...
Sprayground breaking: Forest Hills Park project underway Published on Sep 22nd, 2009 2 comments Crews were busy this morning laying the foundation for Forest Hills Park's new "sprayground." PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR After years of discussions and planning, major improvements to Forest Hills Park,...
Unstarving artists? UVA building boom defies economy Published on Sep 14th, 2009 11 comments Construction on UVA's new $12.7 million music rehearsal hall will begin in January 2010. Rendering by William Rawn Associates Artists may starve for their art, but UVA’s Arts Grounds project doesn’t...
Timely submission? City launches design contest for Mall clock Published on Sep 6th, 2009 19 comments The old Mall clock was a familiar, if innaccurate, timepiece on a kiosk, which the City discarded. FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR "Hey, meet you at the clock," could be a phrase on the lips of Downtown...