The biggest driver of how land is used in Charlottesville continues to be the University of Virginia. There are over a billion dollars in construction projects underway across various sections of Grounds according to the Major Capital Plan.
One of the items in that planning document is a planning study for the future of the Oak Lawn estate in the Fifeville neighborhood. The University of Virginia directly purchased the 5.2 acre property in October 2023 for $3.5 million.
Usually property is purchased first by the University of Virginia Foundation which keeps it on property tax rolls during the planning process. That system was called for by a 1986 agreement between Albemarle, Charlottesville, and UVA. (read the Three Party Agreement)
To do the planning work, UVA and the UVA Health System hired the firm Mitchell / Matthews Architects & Planners. That firm has been involved in several nearby projects such as the development of the Standard on West Main Street in the 2010’s.
The work is now in the second phase, according to a report from the Fifeville Neighborhood Association. That report also publicized an open house scheduled for this Saturday from noon to 2 p.m.
The report from the Fifeville Neighborhood Association states that UVA will be seeking a rezoning for the property because the Residential-C zoning would not support the primary use of childcare that UVA is anticipating for the site.
Work has also been completed on another report that will inform the future of the site by looking at the past. The firms of John G. Waite Associates, Architects as well as Liz Sargent Historic Landscape Architecture have completed a Historic Structure Report and Cultural Landscape Report.
“Ultimately, the adaptive use of Oak Lawn by UVA/UVA Health could be a new model for the integration of a significant historic building and landscape that is associated with the early nineteenth-century development of Charlottesville into the fabric of the expanding University of Virginia in the twenty-first century,” reads page 12 of the report.
Recommendations from this report begin on page 408.
Top photo credit: The report points out the architectural similarities between Oak Lawn and other UVA buildings (Credit: John G. Waite Associates, Architects / Liz Sargent Historic Landscape Architecture)
Before you go: This story was originally posted in the April 9, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. To support this work, consider a paid subscription to the newsletter or support through Patreon. Checks are also welcome!
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