 | Board of Visitors minutes June 7, 1957 |  |
ROTUNDA RESTORATION
Mrs. Smith and Mr. Hartfield inaugurated a further discussion of plans for the
restoration of the interior of the Rotunda, presenting on behalf of the Committee
on Buildings and Grounds the following report:
REPORT OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS COMMITTEE
The Buildings and Grounds Committee presents a replica of the
Rotunda, made by a student in the School of Architecture [Mr. S. Rex
Whitehurst] showing the original Jeffersonian design with elliptical
rooms and towering dome. The completely documented plans are preserved
in the Alderman Library. The interior was changed in 1895 by Stanford
White, presumably for functional purposes.
The Rotunda has recently been listed in the Survey of Historical
Buildings and Sites being recorded by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation.
The Committee further reports negotiation with a Foundation in an
effort to enlist interest and secure funds for the restoration of the
Rotunda to the Jeffersonian design. No decision or commitment by this
Foundation can be made until mid-winter, but interest has been evidenced
by the expressed willingness of a representative to visit and examine the
Rotunda. We place on file the correspondence with the Foundation together
with its reply.
Chairman
Henry W. McWane
Judge A. V. Bryan
Members of the Board examined the model constructed by Mr. Whitehurst, under
Professor Nichols' supervision, to show the Rotunda as it was designed and built by
Thomas Jefferson in the closing years of his life, but destroyed by fire on 28
October 1895.
Mrs. Smith requested that the Rector write a letter of thanks to Mr.
Whitehurst for his good work on the model, and a letter to Mr. Monroe Bush to
express the Board's appreciation for Mr. Bush's expression of interest in the
proposed restoration.
The Rector thanked the Committee for the good work that had been accomplished,
and the Board adopted the following resolution
RESOLVED by the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia that the
Report of the Buildings and Grounds Committee be approved and accepted, and that
the Report and accompanying documents be placed in the Board's files,
RESOLVED FURTHER that the Board approves the replacement of the rooms that
were removed from the Rotunda by Stanford White, so that the interior structure and
proportions will be as they were designed and built by Thomas Jefferson (according
to the scale of the Pantheon) and as they existed from his death until the fire of
1895,
RESOLVED further that the Board's approval is conditioned only upon the
necessity of procuring funds for the work from private sources, and that the Board
encourages the Committee to continue its search for such funds.
| Board of Visitors minutes June 7, 1957 | |