Project for Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Brown, Sr.
North Garden, Virginia
1983-1989
Dr. Brown purchased about 800 self enclosed acres within a punchbowl like valley at the end of a long private road. His dream was to gradually create a village of moved 18th-century buildings as an extended family compound. He eventually purchased several old buildings, including a 1795 two story log building from the vicinity of Louisburg, West Virginia; a small, story and a half late 18th-century timberframe building from Petersburg, Virginia, and an unusual ca. 1800 post and beam Tavern from Rustburg, Virginia. The log building was reconstructed first, and the timberframe building was later added for older relatives. I was retained to install all the rock work in the buildings and surrounding landscape program. We later also built a small cottage for his son, Clinton, along 18th-century lines. In 1989 I located the tavern for Dr. Brown and was retained to dismantle and move it to his property. We successfully accomplished the move and stacked the materials in a barn on his property, including approximately 100 tons of stone and two tractor and trailer loads of hand fired brick. Dr. Brown was never able to resolve a zoning issue to his satisfaction, and the building has remained in inventory. The entire property has recently been sold to a young couple.
The Rustburg Tavern Takedown
December 1988-March 1989
Project for Mr. C. Wilson McNeely, III
White Hall, Virginia
1985
Project for Mr. and Mrs. Robert Strini
North Garden, Virginia
1991
When the Strinis purchased Linden Farm they contacted me because I had done some work for the previous owners, and before the property changed hands, there had been some discussion about rehabilitating a small house on the property for use as a guest house. The building appears to date from the early 19th century, although physical evidence suggests that it was moved or remodeled sometime after 1860, and certainly was electrified and modernized in the 1940s. The granite in the chimneys was quarried locally, and is said to have been laid by an itinerant Valley German stonemason. At my suggestion the Strinis contacted Bill Jobes, of Ivy Woodworks, Ltd., to undertake the general contract. I invited Ken Martin, one of my students from Virginia Tech College of Architecture, to prepare measured drawings and a proposal for the adaptive re-use. My role was limited to the rebuilding of two chimneys and some minor structural elements including piers for a porch. Bill and I had collaborated elsewhere, and as the photographs demonstrate, our work here was quite complimentary. I attribute the wonderfully successful results of the project to Bill's vigilant attention to detail, discerning eye, and delightful sense of humor.
