HomeMy WebLinkAboutCPA201400003 Review Comments No Submittal Type Selected 2014-11-18COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
Department of Community Development
401 McIntire Road, North Wing
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596
Phone (434) 296-5832 Fax (434) 972-4126
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Claudette Grant
FROM:
Margaret Maliszewski
RE:
CPA -2014-03: Woolen Mills
DATE:
November 18, 2014
The subject buildings are contributing resources in the Woolen Mills Village National Register Historic District. They are
particularly significant because they are the surviving mill buildings and ruins that housed the industry that gave the
community and the district their name. Establishing a strong use in the building could help protect the historic resource.
This would require that any renovations be completed without negative impact to existing significant historic features of
the buildings.
The following information is excerpted from the National Register nomination form.
The facility that stands today as the Charlottesville Woolen Mills is a series of connected buildings along the bend
of Moore's Creek. The main building is a four-story, four -bay, brick building laid in American bond built into the
ridge. The bays are recessed and feature large, metal, three-part industrial glazed windows with concrete sills on
the second, third, and fourth floors. The building has a high basement level on the south elevation, beneath which
the stone foundation of previous mill buildings are visible. "Charlottesville Woolen Mills" is painted in large
block letters along the top of the building on the east side. Attached to the main block by a one-story, brick wing
are two two-story, four -bay, brick and concrete buildings. The northern building formerly housed the weaving
department, while the southern building was the finishing building. The buildings are made of poured concrete on
the first story and brick laid in five -course American bond on the second story. The first floors have smaller
glazed windows and garage -style doors, while the second stories have large glazed windows that match those of
the main building.
The surviving mill buildings at the end of East Market Street were built in the 1920s -30s on approximately the
same site as the previous mill buildings. Because they relied entirely on electric (rather than hydraulic) power and
used ground (rather than river) transportation, these buildings are set farther back from the river and creek to
allow for a large parking lot and road access from both Broadway Avenue and East Market Street. The two side
buildings were constructed first in the 1920s for weaving and finishing. The main factory was replaced in the
1930s by the present brick structure and accompanying one-story dye house (now used primarily as a loading
dock). Built of brick and concrete with large industrial windows and saw -tooth roofs, these buildings were not as
architecturally distinctive as the 19th -century mills that came before them, but they were larger and organized
production more efficiently. When the buildings were sold in the 1960s, they were emptied of all mill equipment
and machinery.