News

City Council considers Wertenbaker house no demolition appeal

City Council considers Wertenbaker house no demolition appeal

Wertenbaker house 1301 Wertland St Photo: Saga Communications/Jay Hart


CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville City Council Monday night considers an appeal of a Board of Architectural Review’s unanimous denial of a property owner to demolish the oldest house in the Wertland Historic District. The BAR in May denied the petition by a seven-to-zero vote to demolish what’s known as the Wertenbaker House at 1301 Wertland Street.

City Historic Preservation and Design Planner Jeff Werner pointed out at the May meeting the house was built in 1843 by William Wertenbaker, the second librarian at the University of Virginia who was appointed by Thomas Jefferson. He noted it’s one of about 25 homes he found on GIS built before 1850, of which this is one of 23 still left intact. Wertenbaker and his family moved into the property while he was at UVA, and his family is the namesake for Wertland Street. The building currently houses UVA students.

The agenda item notes “the Appellant acknowledges the Comprehensive Plan generally supports historic preservation; however, Appellant states the BAR did not balance this with City Council’s specific policy objective to promote more housing”.

Click here for the agenda item.

Latest Stories

17 hours ago in Sports

Ohtani tops MLB jersey sales for 3rd straight season. Skenes and Raleigh break into top 20

Shohei Ohtani topped Major League Baseball's jersey sales for the third straight year heading into the end of the regular season as Paul Skenes and Cal Raleigh entered the top 20.

17 hours ago in Entertainment

Mikey Madison will play a Facebook whistleblower in Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Social Network’ follow-up

Aaron Sorkin is diving back into the world of Facebook with a "Social Network" follow-up featuring Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg and a newly minted Oscar winner as a whistleblower.

17 hours ago in National

Assata Shakur, a fugitive Black militant sought by the US since 1979, dies in Cuba

Assata Shakur, a Black liberation activist who was given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a police officer, has died, her daughter and the Cuban government said.