University of Virginia Library

Government Finances
Rotunda Restoration

By SAM BARNES

The University will begin a $2.1
million restoration of the Rotunda in a
few weeks, it was announced yesterday.

The project will be financed by a $1.1
million grant from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development and a
$1 million grant from the Cary D.
Langhorne Trust of Washington.

$55,000 had previously been
allocated for the restoration by the
Virginia General Assembly, while about
$15,000 had been received from private
contributions.

Ceremonies Planned

The plan called for completion of the
project by 1976, the nation's bicentennial
year.

Ceremonies marking the completion of
restoration arrangements are planned for
10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Monticello.

Tricia Nixon Cox, daughter of
President Nixon will participate in the
ceremonies.

Other dignitaries expected to attend
include Floyd Hyde, HUD assistant
secretary for community development,
Thomas R. Reynolds of the Langhorne
Trust Foundation, President Edgar F.
Shannon, Jr. and Francis L. Berkeley, Jr.,
chairman of the Rotunda Restoration
Committee.

Building Designed

The purpose of the project is to
restore the Rotunda, the last building
designed by Mr. Jefferson, to his original
specifications. Mr. Jefferson designed the
Rotunda to be the "keystone" of the
University.

After the building was destroyed by
fire in 1895, New York architect
Stanford White made major changes in
the interior.

The main floor, which originally had
three oval rooms, was eliminated to create
a library, increasing the Dome Room's
height by 16 feet.

Mr. White also substituted large
columns for the twin columns used by
Mr. Jefferson, creating what critics have
called a "silo" effect in the Dome Room.

According to University officials, only
about one-fourth of the Rotunda has
been in actual use since that time.

The restoration will recreate the three
oval rooms and hallway which were
eliminated in the reconstruction.

Plans provide for the use of these
rooms as the offices for the President of
the University and the Board of Visitors.

Additional space will be provided for
lectures, seminars, faculty gatherings and
other meetings as well as for visitors.

Funds Granted

The project's intent, according to a
University release, is to again make the
Rotunda "the center of University life
functionally as well as architecturally."

The HUD grant came under the
department's Open Space and Land
Program for Historic Development.

The restoration project was eligible
for such a funding since the Rotunda was
declared a National Historic Landmark in
1966.

Mr. Berkeley, the Restoration
Committee chairman, said all of the
renovations would be made inside the
building, since the exterior has previously
been restored.

The announcement of the HUD grant
yesterday came as a surprise to him, he
said.