 | University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. |  |
THE RECENT FIRE.
On the 27th of October, 1895, the University of Virginia suffered a serious
loss in the destruction by fire of the central building, known as the Rotunda,
and its Annex, the former part erected under the careful eye of Mr. Jefferson,
the latter an addition made some thirty years further on in the history
of the institution.
Full enquiry has failed to determine with entire certainty the cause of the
fire, which broke out in the north end of the Annex on Sunday morning,
when the building was closed and empty. There is much reason to suspect
an electric current accidentally and irregularly thrown upon the wires used
for lighting, but not in use at the time.
The destruction of the Annex was practically complete. Of the Rotunda
the whole interior and the dome roof were burned, but the well-constructed
cylindrical wall and the inside partition walls remain, injured but little, and
quite capable of being used in the restoration of the building in accordance
with its original design, as has been determined upon.
By active exertion, chiefly on the part of the students of the University,
there were saved between a fourth and a third of the books from the Library,
including nearly all those belonging to the department of Law, the marble
statue of the illustrious founder, the bust, also in marble, of Professor Minor,
all the portraits which hung in the Library-room, and a valuable part of the
apparatus belonging to the school of Natural Philosophy. The fine copy of
Raphael's "School of Athens" which adorned the Public Hall in the Annex
was lost, as well as much to which both sentimental and money value attached,
and not a little which was cherished by reason of association, and can never
be replaced.
But the building destroyed formed only a part, though an important one,
of the many structures on the University grounds. No damage was done to
the Natural History Museum, the Astronomical Observatory, the Chemical
and Biological Laboratories, the buildings belonging to the Medical Department,
the Chapel, the Gymnasium, the Halls of the Literary Societies, and
were at once made for re-distributing the classes whose regular lecture-rooms
had been burned, and the work of the University went on regularly
on Monday morning, the day following the fire, not a lecture being lost.
No small inconvenience has resulted from the temporary occupation by
many classes of rooms not intended for them, but this inevitable trouble
has been cheerfully borne with the feeling that it will not extend beyond
the present session.
The Legislature of Virginia has just passed a bill from which it is expected
that the University will secure a sum not much less than two hundred
thousand dollars for the work of restoration. There is on hand, from insurance
and the Fayerweather bequest, about fifty thousand dollars available
for the same purpose. The generous subscriptions of our alumni and the
friends of the University, not only in Virginia, but in many other States,
North and South, added to these resources, will enable the Visitors promptly
to reconstruct the Rotunda, to erect the necessary additional buildings, and
to renew the equipment of the schools that have suffered by the fire. Among
these subscriptions special mention should be made of the gift of twenty-five
thousand dollars from Mr. Charles B. Rouss, formerly of Virginia, now a
resident of the City of New York. A general expression may well be made
here of grateful appreciation on the part of the Visitors and Faculty, not
only for the generous donations which have been made, but for the words of
sympathy and encouragement which have been called forth by the disaster.
The next session of the University, beginning on September 15th, 1896,
may be looked forward to as finding the institution, which has done so
much good work in the past, at least as well prepared as ever in its material
arrangements for its continued career in the future.
| University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. | |