Recent Happenings from JMA Instagram
McCullar featured in Virginia Living Magazine | Jan-Feb 2025
Josh McCullar and his work are the subject of a biographical feature, “Architecture and the Poetry of Place,” in the January/February 2025 edition of Virginia Living Magazine.
Josh McCullar and his work are the subject of a biographical feature, “Architecture and the Poetry of Place,” in the January/February 2025 edition of Virginia Living Magazine.
A full size PDF link to the piece is available here, or click the images below to enlarge.
When the call came in 2023 I was naturally hesitant and even skeptical he would find much material for an article, but Raleigh-based writer Mike Welton had been following my work via Instagram for some time and felt differently. Having never sought public press or been published since starting my firm in 2016, he wanted to pitch something to Virginia Living and said he would be in touch. Many months passed.
About a year later, Mike called with the news of Virginia Living's acceptance of his pitch - and it would be a full biographical piece. For this introvert, hesitancy returned! I tried to get the whole thing postponed. Too late, he had a contract for it! The in-person interview happened in May 2024 at my Richmond studio, and the article is featured in the current (Jan/Feb 2025) issue of Virginia Living (and to my surprise, it starts on page 78, which ironically happens to be my birth year in the month of February - none of which was planned).
Superstitions aside, as these things go, subjects don't get to see a draft in advance, so I was as surprised as anyone could be. Reading a story of one's lived truths and experiences is a strange feeling - almost like being a visitor to your own life.
I want to express profound gratitude to: Writer, J. Michael Welton, Virginia Living Magazine (specifically editor Madeline Mayhood, and Art Director, Ryan Rich), Photographer, Ansel Olson, to each wonderful and trusting Client (past, active, and soon to come), and to my parents, my wife, and my family.
House by renowned architect W G Clark is new project site
The site for my newest project, this extraordinary work by renowned American modernist architect W G Clark, occupies a 10-acre bluff on the banks of the Chickahominy River near Williamsburg VA. Its current owner has commissioned a transformation of the landscape immediately fronting the house and the design of an inspired separate building for his office studio.
Having been a student under W G Clark at UVA 23 years ago, this project holds special meaning. I look forward to sharing this work with him soon and I'm grateful for his support thus far.
More on Instagram here https://lnkd.in/e7PMp_7i
The site for Josh McCullar’s newest project, this extraordinary work by renowned American modernist architect W G Clark, occupies a 10-acre bluff on the banks of the Chickahominy River near Williamsburg VA. Its current owner has commissioned a landscape transformation immediately fronting the house and the design of an inspired separate building for his office studio.
Photos courtesy of Mark Segal





Grove Ave Residence featured in RTD Homes
Situated prominently behind a stone courtyard on a deep and narrow urban lot in Richmond’s Westhampton neighborhood, we sought to make a house which would instantly become a timeless classic in the urban architectural fabric of this city. Until recently, this had been a block of small mid-20th century houses situated directly across from St. Catherine’s School, and between the weighty stone-walled grounds of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and the century-old fashionable shopping district of Grove Avenue. In the context of such visually rich architecture, the clients commissioned a new two story modern home more suitable to their needs which replaced their former 1 story non-descript rancher.
The site posed a challenge as the topographic change from the front to the rear of the lot was a full story in vertical drop and very wet at its north end. This offered an incredible opportunity to make a sunny forecourt along Grove Avenue and a very private lushly landscaped “sunken garden” at the rear offering quiet retreat. This cross-section between public and private space was a very early clue in how to organize the house and its urban garden simultaneously. Charlottesville based Anna Boeschenstein of Grounded LLC was hired as Landscape Architect to design the grounds as a complement to the architecture.
The plan arrangement behind the front courtyard was imagined as a series of telescoping spaces transitioning from front to rear as semipublic to most private. We conceived a 2-story solid and stately cubic volume of lime slurry washed brick, from which we “carved” openings to make windows, an entry loggia, and a glass vitrine-like home office. Where these elements are introduced, secondary materials of limestone, bluestone, oiled white oak, and copper are used as complements. Upon entering the home, you’ll find not a traditional foyer, but an oak library befitting of the owner’s artistic and historical interests. Opposite the library is a sinuous bronze railed two story stair filled with morning light from a tall east window, and beneath the mid landing of the stair is a passage leading directly to a rear 1-story wing containing the more private family spaces. At the far rear is a covered Ipe porch, outdoor fireplace, and separate quiet painting studio overlooking a lushly planted tree bosque and shaded terrace garden.
Grove Avenue Residence will be featured in the 2023 Modern Richmond Week house tour. An article about the event was published by the Richmond Times Dispatch on Saturday, April 29th.
“Villa Virginia”
A modernist residential compound - “Villa Virginia”, occupies a prominent wooded hillside overlooking a tributary to the James River in South-Eastern Virginia. Surrounded by water on three sides, distinct and crisp forms are clad in limestone, bronze plate, and glass. The plan is positioned to maximize landscape views and natural light from both private and public spaces.
A series of recently completed images by Photographer, Ansel Olson is a beautiful closing chapter of a project that began eight years ago.
A modernist residential compound - “Villa Virginia”, occupies a prominent wooded hillside overlooking a tributary to the James River in South-Eastern Virginia. Surrounded by water on three sides, distinct and crisp forms are clad in limestone, bronze plate, and glass. The plan is positioned to maximize landscape views and natural light from both private and public spaces.
Josh McCullar was the project’s Design Architect during his prior tenure with SMBW and collaborated with Maggie Schubert, RA and Melinda Harvey, ID.
Design and Construction 2015-2022
Landscape Architecture: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, Charlottesville
Garden Sculptures: David Harber, London
Custom Architectural Bronze Fabrications: Tektonics Design Group, Richmond
Exterior Metal Work: Chase Architectural Metal, Richmond
General Contractor: RVA Construction, Richmond