University of Virginia Library

XLVIII. Buildings

In the course of previous chapters, we have referred
incidentally to the new buildings which were erected for
the use of the various departments, vocational or academic.
The first of these was Minor Hall. This fine
edifice, situated about midway between the south end of
East Range and Dawson's Row, now forms the western
side of the new quadrangle, of which Commons Hall
forms the northern, the mechanical building the eastern,
and the amphitheatre, the southern. It was so planned
and so located as to constitute a part of a comprehensive
scheme for the future structures of the University. Such
a scheme had been drafted by Warren H. Manning, of
Boston, which, without any departures from Jefferson's
conception, provided sites for all the edifices that were
certain to be needed in time. Minor Hall was so placed
that its central line was on the prolongation of the axis
of the engineering building, and its longitudinal axis was
such as to allow of the extension of the engineering building,
and at the same time, to leave space for the presence,
in the interval, of a symmetrical court or amphitheatre.
Such a structure, the gift of Paul Goodloe McIntire, was
erected here in 1921, and was used for the first time during
the centennial exercises. Plans for this amphitheatre
had been drawn by Mr. Manning as early as 1911. It
was then designed for open air concerts, debates, and the
like.

Commons Hall faces the amphitheatre. This structure
conforms to the details of Doric architecture, and, in
its principal lines is strictly in harmony with the style

of the mechanical building. The chemical building, on
the eastern side of the precincts,—the gift of John B.
Cobb,—presents a front of imposing height and breadth.
Of almost equal dignity is the educational building, situated
on the western side of the grounds. This too was
begun and finished during the Ninth Period; and so also,
as already mentioned, were Madison Hall, the newest
wing of the Hospital, many of the most spacious fraternity
houses, the stadium, and the alterations in several
existing buildings now used as laboratories.

From some points of view, the handsomest building
erected during this period was the President's House.
Its construction began in 1907, and it was ready for occupancy
in the spring of 1909, after making necessary an
expenditure of $28,837.13. Carr's Hill, on which the
residence was situated, had, in preparation for it, been
laid off in terraces that converted the original scene from
one possessing no charm to one presenting an aspect of
great beauty. "The President's House," we are told by
Dr. Lambeth, "resulted from an effort of Stanford
White to give to the University an example of a lighter,
more airy type of classic form than any left by Mr. Jefferson.
Jefferson's types, from the beginning, were romanized.
Weight, predominating, gave nobility and dignity.
The President's House is more graceful than dignified,
more beautiful than noble, yet the structure
breathes both nobility and dignity."

It was determined, in 1912, to demolish Temperance
Hall, a building lacking in architectural taste, and to
erect a modern structure on its site, at a cost of twelve
thousand dollars. This was to contain sufficient room for
the post-office, and also for several stores. The old
edifice,—which had been built in 1855–56, through the
liberality of General Cocke and other advocates of total

abstinence,—had fallen into the possession of the Board
of Visitors when the charter of the Sons of Temperance
had been surrendered. This upshot was in harmony with
the conditions attached to the original agreement with
the University; but in order to keep as near to the initial
object of the building as possible, the Board, so soon as
they acquired it, put it in the possession of the Faculty
committee on religious exercises, with instructions to use
all the profits from the tenants for the promotion of religious
activity within the precincts. Subsequently, they
rescinded this arrangement, and appropriated to that committee
only twelve hundred dollars of the annual rentals.
It was this committee which recommended the destruction
of the old hall. After the completion of the new building,
the rentals seemed to have been paid to the bursar;
who, in turn, transferred them to the treasurer appointed
by the committee on religious exercises. They were
afterwards used by that committee in such manner as
was thought to be most beneficial to the interests of the
students.

Involved in the plan for a new building at the Corner
was the plan for two new gateways at the entrance to
the University precincts nearby. The money which was
expended in this addition was presented by Mrs. Charles
H. Senff, on condition that the gateways should be raised
as a memorial of her husband, and also as a permanent
monument to the Honor System, which had so long been
cherished by Faculty and students. Mrs. Senff's gift,—
which amounted to $20,000,—was partly to be laid out
in the improvement of the grounds. An important addition
was made to the rear of the Colonnade Club in the
course of this period in order to afford restful quarters
for visiting alumni. A spacious reception-room was attached,
numerous bed-rooms constructed, and an open air

place for lounging created at the back of the building.
By the session of 1912–13, the ground in front of Dawson's
Row from House A to House F had been terraced
and a concrete walk laid down parallel with all the
houses. Pillars had also been added to the face of each
building, thus partially metamorphosing the Row,—notable,
during so many years, for its plainness,—into
pleasing examples of Jeffersonian architecture on a small
domestic scale.

A novel contract was signed by the University and Dr.
Richard H. Whitehead, in 1906,—he being, at that time,
the dean of the medical department,—by the provisions
of which he secured the right to build a residence for his
family on land belonging to the institution. The principal
terms of this contract were as follows: the lease
was to continue for a period of fifty years, and the rent
to be paid was not to exceed $250.00, annually during the
life time of Dr. Whitehead or his widow, so long as either
personally occupied the house; if one or the other should
give up the premises under a sub-lease, then the rent
was to be readjusted at the end of every five years, starting
from the original date of the lease; but should the
University authorities prefer to do so, they were to be at
liberty to take back from the vacating lessee or his widow
the remainder of the term of fifty years. At the end of
this period, the University would possess the right to
purchase the residence; and if it should omit or decline to
do so, the persons then representing the Whitehead estate
could either remove the building, or demand the extension
of the old lease for another half-century. The taxes and
cost of repairs were to fall upon the original lessee or his
sub-lessee.

Perhaps, the most beautiful of all the improvements to
the University grounds made in the course of the Ninth

Period was the creation of English and Italian gardens
in the long intervening space between East Lawn and
East Range. There were four in all; and the work on
them seems to have been begun during the session of
1905–06 and finished two years afterwards. Previously,
the site of these gardens had been a rough slope
overgrown with gaunt trees and tangled brambles. Terraces
were now formed with level areas, the whole
laid off in geometrical figures, set off by small shrubbery
and perennial plants and interspersed with gravel
walks. The interval between West Lawn and West
Range had, previous to 1908–09, been converted, in
large part, into a dumping ground for unsightly refuse.
Here and there stood a tottering, windowless back-building,
a dilapidated shed, or a pile of bricks, black and
mossy from long exposure. This deserted space was
leveled and graded, and, with its fine trees, became an
attractive section of the University precincts. "The
greatest change noticed in the grounds to my observation,"
said an interested alumnus, who visited the University
in 1913, "was the artistic treatment of the area
between the Lawns and the Ranges. What used to
be the greatest snarl has been changed into really
beautiful gardens; and to walk from either one of the
Lawns to the Ranges, through one of the inside alley
streets, is to walk along a path of harmony."

These gardens have been erroneously called "Chinese"
gardens, perhaps from some vague impression
created by the Chinese balustrades which ornamented
the houses on either Lawn. Their belated introduction
within the boundaries of the eastern slope was entirely
consonant with the wishes of Jefferson, for it was from
this quarter of the campus that the precincts of the University
were first entered, and his anxiety to please the

eye of the visitor, so soon as admission to the grounds
was gained, was revealed in the elaborate mouldings
that adorned the entablatures at the back of those buildings,
which were the earliest to be seen and examined.

Previous to 1904–05, the atmosphere of the University
structures,—with the exception of the library, the
dormitories, the pavilions on East Lawn, and the group
of buildings designed by Stanford White,—were still
warmed by grates or stoves in winter; but, before the
close of 1917, there was in operation under every roof a
system of steam or hot water heating, supplied by central
or isolated plants. The last to obtain this advantage
were the dormitories situated on Dawson's Row
and Monroe Hill and the residences occupied by Professors
Thornton and Mallet standing on the crest of
that elevation or near its foot. An important extension
of the electric equipment,—which had been in use
during many years,—was finished by 1907.

Among the special gifts of statuary for the embellishment
of the grounds to be noted of the Ninth Period
was the bronze figure of Jefferson, presented by its
creator, the distinguished sculptor, Sir Moses Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was a patriotic native of Virginia; had taken
part in the gallant charge of the cadets at the Battle
of New Market; and, during his long residence in Rome,
had produced numerous works of remarkable merit.
The money that was required for the safe transportation
of the Jefferson and its proper setting after its
arrival at the University, was obtained through the
generosity of Thomas Nelson Page, Joseph Bryan,
George C. Thomas, and others, some of whom were
not alumni of the institution. Mr. Bryan made his
contribution a memorial to a Jewish friend, a brilliant
fellow-student at the University in 1862, who afterwards

perished on the battlefield as a devoted Confederate
soldier. The figure rises from a pedestal
supporting a large bell, around the tip of which is engraved
the inscription still extant upon the one which
sounded the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia
in 1776. Placed at regular intervals against the
background of this bell were four winged female figures
symbolical of liberty, justice, religious freedom,
and human freedom. The speaking group of blind
Homer, accompanied by his youthful guide, which
now stands in front of the Academic Building, was also
the fruit of another fine conception of Sir Moses
Ezekiel. It was not designed for the University of Virginia
when ordered by John W. Simpson, of New York,
but, at the sculptor's request, it was generously offered
to that institution. The replica of Karl Bitter's statue
of Jefferson,—the original of which was included
among the art treasures of the Louisiana Purchase
Exhibition,—was presented by Charles R. Crane, of
Chicago, while the replica of Houdon's statue of
Washington, which now faces Bitter's Jefferson at the
foot of the Lawn, was the gift of John T. Lupton, of
Chattanooga.

Among the other objects of interest received during
this Period was the great organ which Andrew
Carnegie donated, and which, in the autumn of 1906,
was erected in Cabell Hall. Two patriotic gifts were
the flag poles now rising on the Northern plaza of the
Rotunda, one of which was presented by Thomas F.
Ryan, and the other by Paul Goodloe McIntire. The
flag of Virginia waves from the western pole, and the
flag of the United States from the eastern, while, in
the long shadow of these emblems, as they float in the
wind, stands an old world sundial, which was the gift

of the class of 1910. A bronze lamp, to be placed
above the Confederate memorial tablets on the south
wall of the Rotunda, was presented by the medical
class of 1906.