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This online exhibit shares photographs from The Fauber Collection Exhibit, which was held at Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg, Virginia in 2023.  

In this exhibit of renderings, plans and paintings by J. Everette Fauber, Jr., we can see the broad spectrum of styles shown in the work of this talented architect through samples of his work and art. The works demonstrate that he was not only an architect concerned with the technical aspects of construction but also an artist both in connection to his work and also in recording the world around him.  Jones Memorial Library is fortunate to have many of these drawings and plans in our permanent collection through a generous gift from J. Everette Fauber, III. 

Everette was born in Charlottesville in 1908, but grew-up in Lynchburg where he father, Joseph Everette Fauber, Sr. owned the Fauber Funeral Home (later called the Virginia Funeral Chapel).  He attended The University of Virginia where he studied architecture and studio art; graduating in 1929.  After continuing his education with a year in Paris, he returned to Virginia to begin his career in Colonial Williamsburg, which was in the early stages of the restoration of the colonial town.  After several years of additional training in Williamsburg, he obtained his license as an architect.  At this point he returned to Lynchburg for the rest of his career.  In 1936 he married Ella Whitmore Williams and they moved into a “Williamsburg cottage” on Royal Blvd. that he had designed.  They lived there until they retired to Westminster-Canterbury of Lynchburg in 1970.  They had three sons, J. Everette, III (Ebo), an architect; and bankers: Roger; and Stuart.  Everette died in 1986.

At the time of his education at The University of Virginia, the program stressed the Beaux-Arts and many of the early drawings on display reflect this style.  But the 1920’s was also the beginning of the Art Deco period and that can also be seen in his various early works.  But Everette was not limited to those two styles and his work was greatly influenced by his time with Colonial Williamsburg as seen in many of his early plans for houses in Lynchburg. Both small cottages, like his own home, in what is called the Williamsburg Colonial style and larger houses in the Colonial Georgian style.  Over the years his commissions for architectural designs covered many styles for multiple types of buildings.  They ranged from Monumental architecture for the Lynchburg City Courthouse, to Federal style homes, to Modern for the Lynchburg Life Saving Crew building; to Gothic revival churches. The range of architectural designs he employed is exceptional.  And his work produced homes, businesses, civic structures and churches, the full range of buildings.

 Beginning in the 1960’s he took on numerous restoration projects that required extensive research into the previous use of the building and the original methods of construction.  Using this information, he then drew plans keeping the appearance of the building as it had been originally while including modern needed features like electricity and plumbing, as well as meeting modern safety codes.  Here in Lynchburg, we can see the results of his work at Point of Honor and the Old Court House. One of the most challenging projects was the renovation of the main building of the Library of Congress, bringing it from simply being a place for book storage to a center for the use of new computer technologies.

For his outstanding work he was honored in 1967 by the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects with their highest recognition, the William C. Nolan Award.  And he was honored again in 1970 when he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, an honor given for outstanding contributions to the profession.  

Everette’s early renderings, that are included in this exhibit, show his skill with watercolors and upon his retirement in 1970 he returned to this talent.  He took advantage of the opportunity to develop his artistic techniques by taking classes at the Fine Arts Center.  These paintings display bolder and newer techniques than seen in  his early architectural renderings. We are fortunate to have a number of examples of his watercolors on loan from the Fauber family.