charlottesville virginia

Shack Mountain, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

If you love the elegant look of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, today's estate might just next best thing. Shack Mountain was designed by Fiske Kimball, (1888-1955), a an aficionado of Jeffersonian architecture and the first Chair of the University of Virginia's School of Architecture. Completed in 1937, Shack Mountain, Kimball's home, carries many of the hallmarks of Jefferson's architectural ideals. The front of the house is an elongated octagon dominated by a Tuscan portico with paired columns, a shape Jefferson believed ideal for light.

The home is located minutes from downtown Charlottesville and the University of Virginia and protected on one side by the Ivy Creek Natural Area owned by the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County and on another side by an historic estate subject to a conservation easement meaning that Shack Mountain's privacy is ensured in perpetuity. It is on 102 acres that are mostly wooded with open fields to the north and east and lovely mountain views. It has never been for sale on the open market before and guessing at the listing picture of the kitchen I'm guessing some renovations might be needed. But please, dear future owner, be gentle. You wouldn't put granite countertops in Monticello now would you? This home is listed at $4.495 million.

Gallery: Shack Mountain

[Thanks, Spec.]

Tags: Charlottesville, charlottesville virginia, estate of the day, virginia real estate

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Patricia Kluge: Billionaire's Ex-Wife Faces Foreclosure

by Carrie N. Culpepper (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wine, Real Estate Developments, Wealth, Architecture & Design

Patricia Kluge photos, Patricia Kluge house photos

Patricia Kluge, the 1980s society queen and ex-wife of billionaire media mogul John Kluge, has fallen on some hard times. Kluge was famously awarded the largest divorce settlement in history (a reported $1.6 million a week) but she seems to have figured out a way to spend it – and then some.

She's allegedly in default of nearly $23 million on her gilded mansion in Virginia, which made headlines for its outlandish $100 million price tag when it first hit the market in October 2009. Sotheby's didn't get that asking price, nor the drastically reduced $24 million it was eventually priced at. Instead, on Feb. 16, the 23,538-square-foot home will be auctioned on the Albemarle County courthouse steps.

Kluge's house isn't the only possession she's losing: Her antiques and jewelry have already been auctioned through Sotheby's. Her winery was foreclosed on and its inventory also sold off at auction. On top of that, several lots in the Vineyard Estates subdivision she devised for her property were also auctioned.

The Hook reported that according to court records, Kluge borrowed a whopping $66 million for the house, winery and subdivision.

How could Kluge have blown through her fortune and now lost it all?

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