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Chapter 7
The Building Campaign of 1822
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Incidentals
Other incidentals began to occupy the time of the workmen remaining at the university site.
Before leaving for a three-week visit to Poplar Forest on 13 May,[529] Jefferson calculated
the number of bricks needed for the shafts of 6 Doric columns (5,000) and a cistern (4,000)
and "wrote to J. Perry to provide them." (William B. Phillips' two laborers, Jerry and Isaac,
laid 3,025 bricks for the cistern on 30 and 31 August.)[530] William J. Coffee, back in New
York City making ornaments for the hotels' drawing rooms and the fronts of Pavilions I and
II, realized in late June that he had "taken this Work Much too Low I now think by $200 for
have been obliged to model Every distinct ornament for the Purpose the Last of thease
models I have now in hand I then have to repeat Each of them for the Quantity . . . must
Leave my under Value to your Judgment and the Honor of the Proctor."[531] The contract for
laying the stone foundations for the "serpentine garden walls and an Area wall around one
of the Hotels" was given to James Campbell in early July, who worked for "55 cents per
perch which is 24½ cubic feet." (The proctor also found Campbell a "laborer to attend to
take mortar &c" and placed the stone conveniently to the work.)[532] Surviving records for
the remainder of 1822 shed little light on any construction work that took place at the
university for the rest of the year other than laying some flooring in Pavilions IV and V and
"Hotel BB west," the "Making & puting up" of "Tin Gutters & [drain]pipes" at Pavilions VII
and X, some miscellaneous terrace work, and painting.[533]
529. For Jefferson's impending departure for his Bedford County home, see his letter to
James Madison, 12 May 1822, in DLC:TJ.
533. For flooring plank, see John Fretwell, Account with Richard Ware and George W.
Spooner, Jr., 10 July, Jonathan Mechick, Account with James Oldham, 19, 20 July, John
Rodes, Account with John Harrow, 24 July, James Clarke, Account with James Oldham, 6
August, James Dinsmore to Brockenbrough, 30 August, John Rodes, Account with James
Oldham, 1 October, Dinsmore & Perry to Brockenbrough, 9 November 1822, all in ViU:PP;
for painting supplies, see Brockenbrough & Harvie to Angus MacKay and to John Vowles,
both 12 September, Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 16 September, and C. L.
Abraham, Account for Painting Supplies, 7 October 1822, all in ViU:PP; for gutters see
Daniel A. Piper, Account for Laying Pipes, 8 October 1822, and Ledger 1, in ViU:PP.
Additionally, one load of hardware was shipped from Richmond in September and some
more sash weights were sent from Isabella Furnace in August (see Peter Johnston to
Brockenbrough, 16 September, and Blackford, Arthur & Co. to Brockenbrough, 13
November 1822, in ViU:PP). John Rodes ran a sawmill in Albemarle County (see DNA:
Records of the Bureau of Census, Manufactures of Fredericksville Parish, Albemarle
County, 1820).
|
Chapter 7
The Building Campaign of 1822
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |