CM Boswell Mansion, Chase City, VA

It's easy to get lost in the routine of an architecture business. Between producing drawings and renderings, coordinating meetings, fielding phone calls, and the occasional site visit, it's easy to lose track of the broader impact your project has on its surroundings.

Enter the CM Boswell Mansion in Chase City, Virginia.

Whenever we travel to his house from our office in Charlottesville, we get giddy.

This 10,000 square foot house, built in 1912, is a gem of the community. Having been largely abandoned for the past 30 years, its dilapidated state has become a metaphor for how the community has recently fallen into decline.

There's a ton of cool features in this house, including a 600sqft porch made of 1"x1" marble tiles, mahogany paneling, a flared slate roof, 22 flared Corinthian columns, an oval spider window with hand-made curved, beveled glass, and 7'-6" tall front windows. The craftsmanship is astounding. It's really a shame this house fell into such disrepair.

A moment of silence for whomever hand laid each of those 1"x1" tiles.

Each edge of every pane of this window is beveled. Each. Edge.

A 111-year old flared slate roof? What?

As we work on this project, the community response to the work being done has been nothing short of overwhelming. A few Chase City locals have volunteered their time, and the community and regional leaders have all pledged their support and resources to the cause. Dozens of other Chase City community members have stopped by on several occasions, often at random, to inquire about what's going on, and to give their personal stories surrounding the house, and to tell us about how elated they are to finally see something happening with it.

The client has even received anonymous letters in the mail, like this one.

In the fast-paced world of business today, it's easy to focus on the minutia of a project.

It's been truly humbling to see an entire community being so positively impacted by a piece of historic architecture. The excitement surrounding this project is palpable.

Of course, given the scale of the project and its impact, we just can't resist the urge to get our hands dirty while on site.

We'll be posting several updates as construction progresses, but in the meantime you can find much, much more information at the following webpage, which will be updated as construction progresses:

http://www.facebook.com/HistoricBoswellMansion