More than a hundred years ago, People’s National Bank did business at the corner of Main and East Third Streets in Charlottesville, while the First National Exchange Bank was serving downtown Roanoke. Nearly a decade ago, they closed, and developers wondered how best to transform them.
Charlottesville needed more office space, and the building’s owner thought the arts might give him an edge in renting workplaces to the public.
This fall, the 22,000-square-foot building opened a show by artist and architect Bill Atwood who taught at the University of Virginia for ten years before the Dean demanded to see his lesson plan…