Home Description

SALE PENDING. Inspired by English and Italian farmhouses and country churches, this passive solar straw bale home features a beautiful hand cut timber frame milled from trees harvested on site. Ganged wooden casement windows with deep polished concrete windowsills create symmetry and pattern, and give the home an old craftsman style feel. With its tall gothic windows and heavy timbered roof soaring high above the massive arched stone fireplace and travertine floors and lit by artisan made iron and mica wall sconces, the large great room feels like a medieval cathedral. The builder’s wife is the artist and tile maker Suzanne Crane who made the botanical vessel sink in the powder room. Many of her botanical tiles and murals were used in the kitchen and bathrooms. In keeping with the exquisite craftsmanship throughout the home, the cherry and walnut cabinetry is all fine furniture grade and hand crafted by a local artisan. Countertops are all soapstone. Craftsman style stair railings were also timber framed and were crafted and milled from an oak harvested on site. The kitchen features commercial appliances such as a Wolf stove and a Kitchenaid refrigerator. Situated in a large secluded clearing on a low ridge overlooking Virginia’s beautiful Piedmont foothills and Blue Ridge Mountains, this home comes with 100 acres of hardwood forest. An additional adjoining 132 acres of forested valley and ridge land are also available if desired. All of the land is under a conservation easement.

What makes your home a Green or Healthy Home?

With its passive solar design, its massively insulated stuccoed straw bale walls, its heavily insulated roof, and its high efficiency radiant heat and air conditioning systems, this home uses very little energy. Hot water and hydronic heating are provided by a Baxi Luna tankless, on demand, high efficiency propane fired hot water heater. Timbers for the frame and railings were milled from trees harvested on site. The fireplace is a Rumford design with a Romanesque arched fireplace surround crafted from local limestone salvaged from an old root cellar. Straw bales for the walls were purchased from a local farmer. The cementitious stucco wall surfaces inside and out require no maintenance and do not outgas. Indeed, they breathe and allow vapor to migrate harmlessly through the wall. All finishes in the house are plant based bio friendly

Neighborhood Description

At the end of a half mile driveway, this house is in a clearing in the middle of hundreds of acres of forest. The neighbors are deer, turkey, foxes, songbirds, and the occasional bear. The nearest visible house is a mile away. There is an organic farm and a couple of houses one third of a mile down the hill, but you can't see them from the clearing. The house backs up to a lot of wild land that extends right up to Shenandoah National park. On the other hand, the home is only 30 minutes from downtown Charlottesville, and only 20 minutes from the airport and from Hollymead Town Center and other shopping on Route 29 North.

Market Area

30 minutes from downtown Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Charlottesville is a thriving small city with a vibrant cultural life and great restaurants. Selected numerous times as one of the best places to live in the USA, Charlottesville and the surrounding counties are blessed with a beautiful landscape and many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Those who live here are passionate about the area.

School District

Stanardsville/Greene County

Home Type or Land

Single Family - Two Story

Location of Home or Land

Rural

Elevation of Home

Mountain