University of Virginia Library

The Proctor is Busy

While the executive committee contemplated land deals and waterworks and the contractors
vaulted the main building and made bricks for columns, the proctor supervised the final
thrusts (as lay within his power) aimed at bringing to completion the initial phases of
construction at the university. In mid-July 1824 stonemason John Gorman began laying the
foundation stones for the "back steps" (and their retaining walls) on the north front of the
Rotunda after Brockenbrough's laborers excavated and otherwise prepared the earth on that
steep slope. Brockenbrough sent Jefferson alternate plans for either concealing the "ruff
work" on the sides of the steps or "facing and coping" them with stone but the plans
apparently have not survived.[643] Before the summer was over James and Samuel
Campbell, stonemasons employed by Gorman at the university, finished the stonework on
the "walls" of the eastern range hotels.[644] Little stonework was left at the university after
the completion of those jobs except setting the marble bases and capitals when they arrived
from Italy in 1825 and 1826.

In early August Brockenbrough ordered sash pulleys and keys for iron rim locks from
Robert Johnston & Son in Richmond.[645] The firm could not locate the keys but Peter
Johnston found the pulleys when visiting New York on business in September, and wagoner
Thomas Draffin delivered them (127 pounds in a barrel) to the university on 10
November.[646] Also in August, Brockenbrough sent word to Andrew Smith, the Boston
Glass Manufactory's agent in Richmond, that the university was prepared to purchase a large
quantity of its best Boston crown glass for the window lights of the Rotunda.[647] Wagoner
Jacob Mohler delivered the first shipment to the university in early December, along with
six kegs of paint and "one half barrel whiting weighing 975 lbs. total."[648] The amount of
glass shipped to the university for the Rotunda eventually exceeded 1,000 sheets (packed in
more than 40 cases), and it was late fall 1825 before the New England firm placed its final
shipment on board a vessel to embark for the southward.[649]

With the end of the 1824 building season rapidly approaching, and the construction work
advancing steadily, the proctor busied himself with preparations for the Board of Visitors'
1824 fall meeting. A statement of the university's finances that he made for the visitors on
the eve of their meeting shows that Brockenbrough contemplated the execution of a handful
of minor tasks while the work on the Rotunda was proceeding. He wanted to finish painting
Pavilion X and the hotels on the western range and estimated the cost of that work at $300.
The small "Slipe of Land opposite the Rotunda" that the university was negotiating for with
Daniel and Mary Piper could be enclosed with a brick wall, he thought, for about $450. He
considered $300 sufficient "to set up 8 lecture rooms with benches desk &c," and he
calculated that $250 could take care of the "Stone walls on east Street & other jobs fixing
pumps &c."[650] Brockenbrough also prepared a balance sheet of the university's
expenditures to show the visitors what the cost of building the university had mounted to so
far. The grand total of $305,664.83 can be broken down generally as follows: $109,637.33
for pavilions, $77,430.56 for dormitories, $32,006.85 for hotels, $25,224.90 for the Rotunda
—altogether $244,299.64—plus $61,365.19 for an assortment of other expenses, including
real estate ($8,991.55), salaries for the proctor, bursar, clerks, and professors ($3,497.23),
labor ($2,936.63), privies ($2,818.63), water works ($1,180.49), and smokehouses
($499.05).[651]