University of Virginia Library

IX. Additions to Main Building

The Rockfish Gap Report had recommended that anatomy
should form a part of the course to be taught in the
School of Medicine, but it was not until March, 1825,
that the Board decided that Jefferson's design for an
anatomical hall should be adopted, and that steps should
be taken to erect it just as soon as the funds then expected
to be paid by the National Government had been received.
In anticipation of the shelter of its roof, two skeletons
were purchased by Dr. Robert Goodhow, of New York;
and this seems to have been the first practical step towards
the establishment of the medical school. By
February, 1826, the construction of the hall had begun
under a contract with Dinsmore and Neilson, and by
August the roof had been completed. As it was necessary

to build with strict economy, the proctor,—who, in
the absence of General Cocke, was overseeing the work,
—complained to him of an expensive Chinese railing
which had been put up on the edge of the roof. So
rapid did the construction go forward that the hall seems
to have been ready for use by February of the following
year, only twelve months after the foundation stone was
laid.

There was no suggestion in the Rockfish Gap Report
of the need of an observatory in the projected university,
and yet astronomy was a study which Jefferson looked
upon as almost as important as architecture. An entry
in his notebook accompanying a plan which he had drawn
for such a building shows that he thought that astronomy,
like architecture, could be taught by the object lesson of
one of the University's structures. "The concave ceiling
of the Rotunda," he remarked, with a characteristic absence
of humor, "is proposed to be painted sky-blue,
and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude
copied exactly from any selected hemisphere of our
latitude. A seat for the operator, movable and flexible
at any point in the concave, will be necessary, and means
of giving to every star its exact position. A white oak
sapling is to be used as a boom, its heel working in the
centre of the sphere, with a rope suspending the small end
of the boom and passing over a pulley in the zenith, and
hanging down to the floor, by which the boom may be
raised or lowered at will. A common saddle with stirrups
is to be fixed as the seat of the operator; and seated
in that, he may, by the rope, be propelled to any point in
the concave."

It was probably the costliness of the projected building
that influenced Jefferson to go slowly in advising the
erection of an observatory, which, in size at least, should

be in proportion to the other structures. In 1820, he
calculated that ten and even twelve thousand dollars
would be needed; and the only prospect of obtaining so
large a sum at this time lay in collecting the balance of
the subscription money, to be supplemented by the rents
expected from the hotels and dormitories so soon as
the institution should open its doors. This prospect vanished
in a short time; and three years afterwards, Jefferson
was disposed to convert the house occupied by the
proctor on Monroe Hill into the building desired. The
isolation and elevation of its site appeared to adapt it
to such a purpose. Not long before his death occurred,
he, with characteristic care and minuteness, after examining
the plans of all the principal establishments of this
kind then in existence, drew up one of his own. The edifice
was to be constructed so massively in its foundations
and walls that it would be impossible for it to be liable
at any time to disturbing vibrations. There was to be a
cupola to shelter the telescope, with openings towards
every point of the horizon, and thus, in every direction,
looking out on a very wide expanse. A very high attitude
for the site, however, would not be required, as the
sky line at the University was not, as in Europe, shut in
by numerous houses, both public and private. On the
reservoir mountain there existed a site which combined
in itself all the favorable conditions that were indispensable,
except that the remotest limits of the eastern heavens
were concealed by the barrier of the Southwest Range.
For that reason, Jefferson seems to have, at one time,
canvassed the expediency of placing the observatory on
the top of one of these intervening peaks. A small
structure was erected on the reservoir mountain about
March, 1828; but it appears to have served no practical
purpose owing to the lack of a proper fitting out, and
in 1859, it was pulled down, and the materials which
entered into it were carted away for building elsewhere.
A small brick house was erected on a knoll just south of
Monroe Hill, was equipped by Lukens, of Philadelphia,
and put in charge of Dr. Patterson, who took many observations
there, and there did other astronomical work
in connection with his classes in natural philosophy.

So soon as the contracts were given out, in the spring
of 1819, for the construction of additional pavilions and
dormitories, Jefferson began to consider the means of obtaining
a permanent and voluminous supply of water.
On April 9, he received a proposal from Mr. Balinger,
of Philadelphia, to bring it within the precincts by means
of pipes that were to tap springs on the side of Observatory
Mountain. A previous bid seems to have been
made in March by William Cosby, who was to have a
share of some importance in the building of the University.
By August, the work of boring the pipes, which
were manufactured by hollowing out large logs of wood,
had begun. The reservoir, however, had not yet been
constructed, for, on October 7, James Wade, who had
recently inspected the ground, advised Jefferson to place
the receiving basin as high up on the mountain as practicable,
so as to avoid the use of pumps. This method,
he said, would be certain to create a strong natural flow
of water for extinguishing a great fire, or for supplying
an ornamental jet d'eau, should one be desired for diversifying
the beauty of the University grounds. He suggested
the construction of a circular reservoir, to consist
of oak plank two and a half to three inches in thickness,
and capable of holding three thousand or even four thousand
gallons, with an arch of brick thrown over it for
protection. The excavation of the ditch to contain the
pipes occupied the interval from May to November.

Either the work of laying them was delayed, or they had
to be replaced or renewed in part, for both in August,
1821, and in May, July, and November, 1832, the University
was subjected to the expense of hauling logs and
pipes. In the meanwhile, a number of cisterns had been
constructed here and there within the precincts by Hugh
Chisholm and William Phillips; and there were also sunk
wells that required as many as ten thousand bricks to be
brought from the Perry kiln.

There has already been a brief allusion to the gardens
which lay in the rear of the ten pavilions. The walls enclosing
these gardens were of a shape which has been
aptly described as serpentine. It will be recalled that
Jefferson, during his mission to France, had made a tour
of the English counties, and in the course of his circuit
of the island, had been very much pleased with the
beauty of the gardens, especially in their relation to landscape.
It was, probably, during this tour that he first
noticed the serpentine walls, which, in those times as in
these, environed so many of the English gardens, and
being delighted with their graceful and unique sinuosity,
he, no doubt, carried this impression with him until he
had an opportunity of reproducing their shape in planning
the garden walls for Central College. In England,
this type of wall, because it presents a larger surface to
the rays of the sun, is thought to be better adapted to
the growth of flowering vines and fruits. The smaller
cost of such an enclosure was, perhaps, an important reason
for its adoption for the protection of the University
gardens. The serpentine wall can be safely raised with
a thickness of one brick to a greater height than an
ordinary straight wall of the same dimensions. The
original serpentine walls at the University were only
half a brick through, and yet from ground to top the distance

is as much as six or seven feet; and the strength
of their framework is proven by the endurance of most
of the first material used, during a period of nearly one
hundred years.

In providing for the buildings for the new seat of learning,
Jefferson did not forget the need of a clock and bell.
In 1825, the proctor obtained an offer from Joseph
Saxton, of Philadelphia, who represented the famous
maker, Lukens, who was then in Paris. Apparently,
this was not accepted, for, in April, Jefferson wrote to
Mr. Coolidge, of Boston,—a city which then had a
high reputation in the art of bell making,—to ask him
for assistance in procuring the bell so soon to be used.
"We want one," he said, "which can be generally heard
at a distance of two miles, because this will always ensure
its being heard at Charlottesville."

Coolidge, in his reply to this letter, seems to have
recommended Mr. Willard, of Boston, but no clock and
bell were manufactured that year, for, on April 3, 1826,
the Board of Visitors empowered the executive committee
to buy a clock and bell, should Congress consent to
remit the duties on the capitals imported from Italy.[13]
The order for the bell given to Willard was countermanded
by Cocke after Jefferson's death, and an order
for a triangle at first substituted; but the clock was

finally made by Willard in accord with the elaborate instructions
which Jefferson had given in his letter to
Coolidge in June, 1826. In the spring of 1827, the
clock appears to have been put in place, for it was during
that year that Willard visited the University for the
purpose. A bell seems to have been ordered at first
from Joseph White, of New York, but it did not give
satisfaction. In November, 1827, a bell was shipped
by Mr. Coolidge from Boston, and this was probably the
one which remained in constant use until 1886, when
having cracked, it became necessary to discard it; but it
still survives as a venerable relic of the many years during
which it sounded through the precincts of the University,
and over the surrounding region of country.

When, in the spring of 1819, the appointment of a
proctor was under discussion, Governor Preston, recommended
Arthur S. Brockenbrough, a member of a distinguished
family, who, at that time, was superintendent
of repairs to the Capitol in Richmond, and was also in
charge of the improvements to the Capitol Square, then
in progress. "Brockenbrough," he wrote, "was judicious,
economical, and industrious, a man of correct
taste, who had been trained in building; and in character,
unexceptional, and in disposition, amiable." These encomiums
were not exaggerated. His ability and fidelity
in performing the practical part imposed on him officially
in the erection of the University have not been awarded
the praise to which they fully entitle him in the history of
the institution. Constant vigilance, unceasing activity,
and the power to direct and use men to advantage, as
well as knowledge of building in its general and special
features alike, were required of him, and all these qualifications
he exhibited. His responsibilities covered a
large field of small details arising continuously, and calling

for sound judgment and expert information to meet
them correctly and promptly. Jefferson pointed out
how intricate were the duties of the office in his letter
inviting Alexander Duke, in 1819, to undertake them.
"They are of two characters so distinct," he said, "that
it is difficult to find them associated in the same person.
One part ... is to make contracts with workmen, superintend
their execution, see that they are, according to
plan, performed faithfully and in a workmanlike manner,
settle their accounts and pay them off. The other is
to hire common laborers, overlook them, provide subsistence,
and do whatever else is necessary for the institution."[14]

It is true that Jefferson relieved Brockenbrough of
much drudgery that would have fallen on him had Jefferson
himself been satisfied with a nominal oversight.
We have seen him laying off the site of Central College,
drawing up the specifications for the buildings from cellar
to garret, prescribing the tests for brick, stone, and
timber, writing out many of the contracts with his own
hand, and preparing the deeds to the purchased lots.
But he very probably did not take upon himself to perform
every one of those duties which he enumerated in
the letter to Duke. Although he visited the University
so frequently, yet it was not possible for him to remain
the entire round of working hours, and there must have
been, in his intervals of absence, however short, a throng
of small matters of business rising up suddenly and requiring
to be at once passed upon. As Bremo, the home
of General Cocke, the other member of the committee
of superintendence, was situated a day's journey off, it
was not possible for him to be constantly within the precincts.

Brockenbrough, on the other hand, resided on
the ground; the affairs of the University rested upon
him, from morning to night, through the entire week,
regardless even of the Sabbath; and when his two superiors
were not present, he alone was responsible for the
correct and orderly progress of the buildings. The accounts
of his office, which still survive, are very voluminous,
and they embrace every side of the original expenditures
for construction.

That his temper was sometimes harassed by the exasperating
intricacies of his duties crops out in the history
of his relations with some of the workingmen. W.
J. Coffee, whose artistic eye and hand fashioned the ornamental
parts of the entablatures of the pavilion drawingrooms,
roundly denounced him, on one occasion, as "illbred,
unhandsome, and insulting," but as there had been
a difference of opinion in the settlement of his balance,
it is quite possible that Brockenbrough was only endeavoring
to safeguard the interests of the University. That
was certainly so in the case of a contention with Edward
Lawber, who supplied the paints for so many of the
buildings. The records indicate that there was but one
suit of importance brought against the institution during
his administration by any of the contractors; this was by
James Oldham; a proof that care had been taken by him
to deal justly and exactly with all the persons who had
a share in constructing it.

After Jefferson's death, Brockenbrough's prolonged
experience under circumstances that sharpened his
powers of observation was very serviceable to both
Cocke and Madison as the executive committee. There
still survives a letter written by him to the latter about
the time that Madison succeeded to the rectorship,
which contains many valuable practical suggestions respecting

the dormitories and hotels, and also the hospital,
which had been projected but not yet begun.