About Us

Our work reflects our strong commitment to produce beautiful, well-built, and responsibly engineered designs that meet our clients’ objectives. With each new commission, we strive to achieve a thorough understanding of the natural, historic, cultural and scenic assets of the settings in which we work. Our small, highly qualified staff ensures that all projects receive the complete attention of the principal-in-charge and project manager through every phase.

Recent projects include the recreation of Monticello’s kitchen road and path, a master plan for the Virginia Theological Seminary, restoration of an 18th century garden at Stratford hall, the Historic Henry County Courthouse forecourt, the Poplar Forest Parkway, and the historic James River plantation, Carter’s Grove. Our clients include the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Corporation for Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the City of Charlottesville, and the County of Albemarle.

Our Team

  • Will-ReileyWilliam D. Rieley, PLA

    As the founding principal of Rieley & Associates, Will oversees all of the firm’s projects. In addition to serving for eight years on the Albemarle County Planning Commission, he taught at the University of Virginia for 20 years. His career as an educator continues through lectures at conferences and symposiums and participation in the Historic Landscape Institute (administered jointly by the University of Virginia and Monticello).

    His other interests include fly fishing (because “you always do it in beautiful places”), and the study of proportion, garden structures such as dovecotes and bathouses, and classical architecture. He is known at the office for his recitations of Gilbert and Sullivan, poetry and an occasional anecdote from P. G. Wodehouse. In his honor, Rieley & Associates always celebrates National Bow Tie Day. His dog, Gus, a lab mix, enjoys coming to work every day because it means a lunchtime walk with his boon companion.

  • Roxanne-BrouseRoxanne S. Brouse, PLA

    Roxanne graduated with a Masters degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia. After working with the National Park Service as the Landscape Architect for the National Capital Region in Washington, DC, she returned to Charlottesville to work at Rieley & Associates. She has been a partner since 1985. She describes herself as the firm’s factotum because on any given day she tackles assignments ranging from calculating curve data on a horizontal alignment to putting the finishing touches on a narrative for a master plan. She gets the job done. Her rescue dogs, Roscoe, a senior chihuahua, and Ginger, a lab corgi mix, are friendly office companions. Roxanne’s favorite pastime is following the exploits of her beloved University of Virginia baseball team. Go Hoos!

  • Jennifer Esser, PLA

    Jennifer joined Rieley & Associates in 2007 to help produce line drawings and rendered aerial perspectives for Historic Virginia Gardens: Preservation Work of the Garden Club of Virginia. Her experience at that time included twenty years as a private consultant in south Florida for residential design, parks, and roadway beautification projects. Her tenacity and analytical skills shine brightest when tackling complicated construction details, layout and grading plans, and specifications for such diverse projects as a new plaza at the Historic Henry County Courthouse which included recreating Civil War cannon carriages, the restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s carriage turnaround at Poplar Forest, the Reveley Garden at the College of William & Mary, and an 18th century garden restoration at Stratford Hall. In addition to her design work, Jennifer is an artist with a regular studio practice and her oil paintings hang in private collections around the country.

  • Mita Tembe

    Mita joined Rieley & Associates in July 2022. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in Astronomy-Physics, she spent 3 years working on the APOGEE-2 spectrograph, installed at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Subsequently, she spent 4.5 years as the Bakery Manager at MarieBette Café, a beloved Charlottesville institution. She brings an unironic love of organization and enthusiasm for a new-to-her field to her work at Rieley & Associates. In her spare time, Mita enjoys baking and doing crosswords with her husband, crafting, and looking after their two dogs, Hummus and Clementine.

Publications

  • THE MATERIAL WORLD OF EYRE HALL: FOUR CENTURIES OF CHESAPEAKE HISTORY

    Order here.

    Edited by Carl R. Lounsbury, with contribution from William D. Rieley Giles Ltd. in association with the Maryland Center for History and Culture, Baltimore

      • THE PUBLIC SPIRITED BEATRIX FARRAND OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND

        Order here.

        Written by Roxanne S. Brouse The Beatrix Farrand Society Press; Copyright © by the Beatrix Farrand Society; Copyright © text by Roxanne S. Brouse

        • GardensHistoric Virginia Gardens:
          Preservation Work of the Garden Club of Virginia 1975-2007

          Order here.

          Written by Margaret Page Bemiss, with photographs by Roger Foley, and site plans and illustrations by Rieley & Associates.

          Proceeds from book sales will contribute to future restoration and preservation efforts by the historic non-profit organization, the Garden Club of Virginia.

        • PalladaniaPalladiana, Journal of the Center for Palladian Studies in America Inc.

          “Pigeons in the Temple: Thomas Jefferson’s Pigeon-House Design” by William D. Rieley Vol 10, No. 1, Fall 2015

          www.palladiancenter.org/Fall_2015.pdf

        • VirginiaFamilyA Virginia Family and Its Plantation Houses

          Written by Elizabeth Langhorne, K. Edward Lay, and William D. Rieley University Press of Virginia; Copyright © 1987 by the Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia.

        • garden-designTaylor’s Guide to Garden Design

          “Time-Honored Styles” and “Traditional Gardens” written by William D. Rieley Chanticleer Press, Inc.
          New York; Copyright © 1988 by Houghton Mifflin.

Our Projects