Stately and elegant, Four Acres in Charlottesville is also a warm and welcoming family retreat.
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Photo by Peter Murdock
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Owners Jane-Ashley and Peter Skinner.
Photo by Peter Murdock
It's hard to imagine now looking at Four Acres, a pristine Colonial Revival on Charlottesville’s historic Rugby Road, but when its owners determined to celebrate their marriage in the house in 1999, there was no electricity. Undaunted, a wall between formal rooms on the first floor that had been removed for renovation was temporarily replaced with a trellis, and a seated dinner for more than 70 was lit only by candlelight.
An extensive four-year renovation has since transformed the stately 12,000-square-foot home into an ode to its owners’ reverence for architectural history and comfort.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the winner of a Historic Preservation Award in 2002 from the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Four Acres saw its share of highs and lows prior to its 21st-century rescue. Designed by Virginia architect Eugene Bradbury and built in 1910 as a summer residence for Milton Elliott—a wealthy attorney from Norfolk—and his wife, Lucy Cocke Elliott, Four Acres has had many owners over the years, including the nearby University of Virginia, which used it to house World War II legend Admiral William “Bull” Halsey while he taught there briefly. Although modified and upgraded to suit the tastes and needs of its various owners, Four Acres was in need of significant structural reconstruction as it neared its ninth decade. In 1998, author and artist Peter Skinner, who was tired of commuting to Charlottesville from his farm near Scottsville, took one look at the home and knew immediately that Four Acres would be worth the effort to restore.
The project, which required removal of floors, windows, plaster walls and even the roof, began with the construction of a new foundation and interior beams to provide adequate support. Numerous small rooms throughout its three floors were replaced with large, open and light-drenched spaces, which the Skinners filled with warm earth tones expressed in wallpaper, antiques and lush fabrics. A grand foyer accessed from double entries sets the tone for the home with rich honey-hued reclaimed pine floors topped with carpets and furnishings in muted reds, moss greens and warm whites blended with soft beige accents.
“I started working with a decorating team in Washington, D.C.,” says Jane-Ashley Skinner, who together with her husband, Peter, took a very hands-on approach to the renovation of their home. “But I quickly realized that it was becoming someone else’s vision.”
With help from Charlottesville designer Alana Woerpel, Jane-Ashley slowly and carefully curated her own style for Four Acres. Charlottesville antiques dealer Kenny Ball provided a rich resource for furnishings, including many 18th- and 19th-century French, English and Italian antiques. Landscape paintings by local artist Dean Dass share wall space with Peter’s abstract works throughout the house. Formal living areas occupy the majority of the first floor, with two stairways leading to the terrace level, which offers more relaxed living space, including guest suites, a catering kitchen and a family room in space formerly occupied by an indoor swimming pool.
Everywhere there is light pouring in from soaring windows that offer spectacular views of the home’s French limestone terraces, gardens, infinity pool and the mountains beyond. An expansive master suite with his and hers dressing rooms shares the second floor with a guest suite and two marble bathrooms. A third floor has a bedroom, bath with a unique marble shower tucked into a dormer, and multiple cedar storage closets.
There are design jewels at almost every turn, like the main kitchen’s silver double sink crafted by the German Silver Sink Company. A commode discovered by the couple at Paris’ Clignancourt Flea Market was the inspiration for the first-floor powder room where it now resides. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the two dining rooms fully retract into the ceiling, allowing dinner guests to pass freely onto the terraces that span the rear, southeast-facing side of the house. Situated on about four acres—hence the name—the home has the distinction of being the largest residential property in Charlottesville.
Its grounds, which include a formal rose garden, are the work of local landscape architect Rachel Lilly, who for the past 18 years has worked with the Skinners to install and maintain native specimens with an eye to ensuring privacy and providing year-round color.
“We have always wanted the home’s interiors to extend the experience of being outside,” explains Jane-Ashley, who admits that the couple was initially resistant to the idea of leaving Four Acres. But, with grown children far flung around the country, she said they realized the time was right for a new adventure.
Four Acres is offered for sale at $7,995,000 by Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates. For more information, go to LoringWoodriff.com
