Candy Lane

Candy Lane is the alternate street name for a series of seventeen colorful historic houses in Autumn, Virginia. Llolman Road, its official name, runs roughly southwest to northeast through the neighborhood of Northview.

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The strip of cottages, villas, and town houses extend from Jefferson Road to Stuart Road The area is known for its lush tree coverage, picturesque views, and feeling of seclusion despite its close proximity to downtown.

Northview is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Autumn, made up of mostly Victorian houses that date from the 1880s when the city began its first economic boom. At the time, it was still on the outskirts of the city to the north, but the convenient location to both downtown and train access made it a haven for moderately upscale residents.

street numbered map for Candy Lane

History

The first house built in 1880 was a for a friend of architect Harold Wick. It was a modest cottage with a simple color scheme. Soon after it was finished, a neighbor moved in across the street and constructed an ornate town house. Rumor has it that the owner of the cottage became angry because the new house blocked the sunrise. To compensate for the lack of warmth on his house, he decided to paint the cottage yellow.

The new resident, following a verbal argument, interpreted this to be a display of dominance and painted his home a new color that would attract as much attention. A rivalry began and expanded with each new resident, leading to a progression of more colorful and unique buildings.

Comprised of Victorian era architecture, visitors will find a mixture of Gothic, Romanesque, and classical elements on Candy Lane with rich colors—a stark contrast to the Jefferson style red brick and white trim architecture for which Autumn and most of Virginia are known. It has become a popular location for photographers.

One of the houses includes a tragic story. The last lot to be purchased was in 1901 near the east end of the street. The resident was a wealthy businessman who was charmed by the neighborhood and built a house on Llolman Rd. as a summer retreat. His son inherited the family fortune and house after the father passed away, but lost all of it after the stock market crash of 1929.

He was reported to have taken a train from New York to Autumn, walked home to his house on Llolman Rd. and hung himself in the upstairs stairwell, facing the stained glass window that looked east. The house has had trouble keeping tenants over the years and is currently vacant.

Name origin

The residential street takes its name both from the vibrant and varied exterior colors as well as a candy shop at the west end of the community. During the 1920s, at the corner of Jefferson Rd. and Llolman Rd., a candy shop moved into the tiny abandoned commercial building, providing soda and an assortment of treats for the neighborhood, specifically after church let out on Sundays across the street.

After the owner’s son died in World War II, the shop fell into decline. The owner sold the establishment to a patron who wanted to refurbish and expand the business. It is now a popular destination and symbolic starting point for visitors of Candy Lane.

Houses

Each of the Candy Lane houses are considered free-standing single-family detached homes. The following are historical backgrounds for the buildings.

1 East Lollman St.

2 East Lollman St.

3 East Lollman St. – The Jansen House

The two story gothic cottage sits near the corner of Llolman Rd. and Luray St. to the east of the first home. It dates to 1883 when Margaret Jansen and her husband, owners of a local flower shop, built the house with its signature St. Bernard statues at the base of the front steps.

4 East Lollman St.

5 East Lollman St.

6 East Lollman St.

7 East Lollman St.

8 East Lollman St.

9 East Lollman St.

10 East Lollman St.

11 East Lollman St.

12 East Lollman St.

13 East Lollman St.

14 East Lollman St.

15 East Lollman St.

16 East Lollman St.

17 East Lollman St.

Behind the Scenes

The houses of Candy Lane are made through a collaborative effort with patrons of Welcome to Autumn. Each house design is chosen from a 19th century architectural book with accurate floor plan and details. The color scheme, period appropriate, is picked along with façade materials – brick, stone, or wood. Finally, the patron produces a backstory for the original owner of the house, complete with names, dates, professions, and personal touches.

The buildings are modeled, textured, and rendered using Blender 3d. The final goal of the mini-project is to create a series of oil paintings connected to a unique backstory. The renders provide both reference for the painting process as well as mock historical photographs.

Come participate in the project and create a whole new story! 

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  • Candy Lane frame cottage

Candy Lane

May 28th, 2015|0 Comments

Candy Lane is the alternate street name for a series of seventeen colorful historic houses in Autumn, Virginia. Llolman Road, its official name, runs roughly southwest to northeast through the neighborhood of Northview. [...]

  • 1879 city plan of Autumn Virginia

Original 1879 City Plan of Autumn

November 24th, 2014|0 Comments

Look what I discovered while rummaging through old stacks at the Autumn Historical Society. It's the original 1879 plan of the city! Also known as the Wick Plan, named for architect and engineer Harold Wick, this city grid [...]

Autumn City Hall – Update 24

I modeled the stained glass window to a point that I’m happy with. I experimented with different saturations and values, but this was the most accurate representation of real stained glass I could get. I attempted to texture it in Substance Painter, but there’s a very bad bug for Mac OS that causes the program to crash a lot so I’ll have to come back to it later when they fix it.

Until then, a basic bump map for the metal parts and rippled lead glass. I also added a metal trim design to integrate the dark fixture into the white ceiling. The ceiling will be textured later with some kind of stone/marble/granite. There are just a few tall cubes above the fixture to test out transparency so the final look with the real building will change.

Autumn City Hall – Update 23

My motivation has gone up and down throughout the process, especially as it gets harder to tweak because of the size of the file. That’s why it’s necessary for me to find different mini projects to tackle like this next part. I’m attempting the stained glass skylight window for the front balcony ceiling. So, when you walk underneath the arch and before you reach the front doors, you look up and see warm sunlight filtering through the window.

I’d love to spend more time coming up with a design, but I have to go with one of the first ones I think of since I need to move more quickly than I have. I’m happy with this design because it incorporates symbols of clocks, the sun, train wheels, cogs, and flowers. It doesn’t feel as Victorian as I’d like, but oh well. On to the modeling phase!

Autumn City Hall – Update 22

Things are getting pretty heavy now. Face count is pretty high and my computer is stuttering. Here’s an update on the look of the entire front. I have a majority of pieces mirrored, but not all. The tower is still in the basic modeling phase. I have a few more details on the facade to model along with the windows.

Autumn City Hall – Update 21

Updated bear statue. I’m gonna stick with aged bronze for now. The image is a bit dark, I know. I should have run it through photoshop quickly. I bounced back and forth between glossiness, but when I finalize the material, I’ll do some research on bronze statue surfaces.

I had some issues with the multires modifier, specifically the dreaded spike bug so I’ll have to try to clean that up at a later date. I used the new pointiness feature for the aged look, but I’m gonna bring this into Substance Painter later for a final texture paint. I’ll work on the pedestal at a later date as well. What do you guys think?

*Trying out Anthony Pilon’s new copper shader.

Autumn City Hall – Update 20

I decided a while back that I would sculpt a pair of bears for the front of City Hall as guardian statues where lions are usually placed. They would represent not only the animals of the region, but also stand for caution as you walk up the steps. They would act as a warning to tread carefully when you conduct business for the people.

Here is my first stage of one of the statues, probably an identical pair. I’ve added a quick bronze material. The face is taking shape so I’m going to move on to the paws and then the hind quarters. I’m still researching what type of bronze material I want to have. I’m also not 100% sure it will be bronze, stone is still an option.

This is my first attempt at sculpting in Blender, and it’s definitely been a learning process, but it feels like it will become more natural as I continue to do it.

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