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Chapter 10
The Building Campaign of 1825
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Chapter 10
The Building Campaign of 1825
University. If divided between two objects it would be worth nothing to either.
—Jefferson
Funds Still Needed
Shortly after the first of the year the proctor estimated that $25,000 was needed to finish the
Rotunda,[669] not counting the $5,000 owed for work already performed at the building,[670]
and Jefferson figured that another $5,000 would be required to erect the Anatomical
Hall.[671] Knowing that the university lacked those funds Jefferson recommended leaving
the Rotunda in its unfinished state "for the present" rather than risk "renewing the
displeasure" of the Virginia legislature by hinting of additional aid.[672] In early March
Dinsmore & Neilson calculated the "Probable expence of finishing the wood work of the
library Room and finding the materals" to be $3,000, "exclusive of the Columns," which
would demand another $2,000. Supposing another $1,000 for "Plast & Paintg," the firm
reckoned that it would cost $6,000 to finish the Rotunda's dome room.[673] With the
approach of spring when Jefferson was engaged "in preparing a general view of the state of
our finances on the 1st. day of January last," he wrote Brockenbrough: "I have had so many
terrible rides to the University lately that I must now ask the favor of you to take one to this
place to confer with me."[674] The resulting financial statement, dated 15 March and sent to
the members of the Board of Visitors exactly one month later, accounts for $29,713 and
shows that on the first day of 1825 over half of the university's funds were allocated for
items other than construction costs, such as "Ordinary current expences" and professors'
salaries. In fact, the only future building expense included in the statement is the $6,000
estimate for finishing the "Library room" that Dinsmore & Neilson had submitted to the
proctor a few days earlier.[675]
669. See TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 11 January 1825, in ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early
History of the University of Virginia, 330-32, and Randolph, Memoir, Correspondence, and
Miscellanies, from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 4:411-12.
670. Brockenbrough was in "utmost distress" for the $5,000 by mid-January, and the
university borrowed the money from a Richmond bank so that it could meet the obligation.
See TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 19 January 1825, in ViU:TJ, and Brockenbrough's
Statement of Funds, 4 March 1825, in ViU:PP; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 334, and O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia:
The Rotunda, 34.
671. Jefferson estimated that the Anatomical Hall would "take 4,000 bricks for every foot of
it's height from the foundation to the roof" (TJ to Brockenbrough, 9 March 1825, ViU:PP).
The Board of Visitors at their meeting on 4-5 March 1825 resolved to build the Anatomical
Hall "as nearly as may be on the plan now exhibited to the board" (ViU:TJ; see also
Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 19:361-499, and TJ to Brockenbrough,
9 March 1825, in ViU:PP). Jefferson apparently drew the elevation and plans for the
Anatomical Hall (located in ViU:TJ) in February 1825 (see Sherwood and Lasala,
"Education and Architecture: The Evolution of the University of Virginia's Academical
Village," in Wilson, Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village, 44-45, and #365 in Nichols,
Thomas Jefferson's Architectural Drawings).
672. TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 11 January 1825, in ViU:TJ; see also Lipscomb and
Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 16:97-100.
673. Dinsmore & Neilson to Brockenbrough, 5 March 1825, ViU:PP; see also
Brockenbrough's Statement of Funds, 4 March 1825, in ViU:PP.
675. See TJ's Statement of University Funds, 15 March, in ViU:TJ, and TJ to the Board of
Visitors, 15 April 1825, in ViU:JHC, ViU:JCC, and DLC:JM; see also Cabell, Early History
of the University of Virginia, 348-50. TJ's draft of the letter to the Board of Visitors is dated
16 April (DLC:TJ). On 5 March the Board of Visitors resolved to advance the $6,000 to the
university's building fund "for the purpose of finishing the interior of the library room
(Board of Visitors Minutes, that date, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 34.
Professors Expected
The surviving records reveal little of the other remaining tasks that surely must have need to
be completed over the winter as the university awaited the arrival of the professors and the
opening of the school to its first class of students.[676] When the first week of the new year
passed without bringing the last of the foreign professors to the university Jefferson became
almost frantic that his cherished institution would not open as scheduled. He confided to
Joseph Carrington Cabell: "We are dreadfully non-plussed here by the non-arrival of our
three Professors. we apprehend that the idea of our opening on the 1st. of Feb. prevails so
much abroad . . . that Students will assemble on that day, without awaiting the further notice
promised. to send them back will be discouraging, and to open an University without
Mathematics or Natural philosophy would bring on us ridicule and disgrace. we therefore
publish an advertisement stating that, on the arrival of these Professors, notice will be given
of the day of opening the institution."[677] Professors Bonnycastle, Key, and Dunglison,
along with the wives of the latter two, had embarked on the Competitor at London in
October 1824 but unfavorable winds had kept their vessel from sailing out of the English
Channel for six weeks, and it was February before the vessel dropped anchor in
Norfolk.[678] A week later the party was greeted in Richmond by enthusiastic university
supporters, but before the professors and their wives could begin the trek to their final
destination severe winter weather forced them to sit still for several more days.[679]
676. For the opening of the university and its operation until the time of Jefferson's death in
1826, see Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 411-25, 483-88.
677. TJ to Cabell, 11 January 1825, ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the University
of Virginia, 330-32, and Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 16:97-100. On
9 January Jefferson sent Brockenbrough instructions to insert the advertisement in the
Richmond and Fredericksburg papers (ViU:PP). When writing to Brockenbrough on 11
January to inform him that he was sending from Richmond the "Books & Instruments,
imported by Gilmer, for the University," Bernard Peyton said that the "other three Professors
have not yet arrived, nor are they heard from" (ViU:PP).
678. See Cabell to TJ, 30 January 1825, in DLC:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 336-37, and Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of
Monticello, 413.
679. See Robley Dunglison to TJ, 10 February 1825, in Dorsey, Jefferson-Dunglison
Letters, 11, the Richmond Enquirer, 17 February 1825, and Cabell to TJ, 18 February 1825,
in ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 346-47, and
Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 6:413. Bernard Peyton wrote to
Brockenbrough on 16 February to say that wagoner William Mills was headed for the
university with "thirteen boxes, three trunks, two baskets, one bundle & one small leather
trunk" belonging to professors (ViU:PP). Two more loads of the professors' possessions
were delivered to the university by wagoners Abraham Danner and Robert Hanna (see
Peyton to Brockenbrough, 24, 26 February, in ViU:PP). Simeon B. Chapman, who was to
manage Hotel A, told Brockenbrough in a letter of 22 February that "I have several times
seen & am pleased with the professors now at this city I am detained necessaryly at this
place a few days longer than I expected . . . The Weather here has been such dureing the
greater part of the last 2 weaks that it has been almost impossiable to attend to any kind of
Business, I hope it has not been the case at the U.V." (ViU:PP).
University Opens
When word of the professors' long-anticipated arrival in Virginia reached Charlottesville,
Brockenbrough issued a proclamation that the University of Virginia would open on 7
March 1825.[680] Before that date, however, Jefferson concluded that the lateness of the
season necessitated the issue of another notice informing potential students that for the
present year they could enter the university at any time.[681] Although Jefferson was eager
to open the university, the buildings still lacked, among other things, sufficient mattresses
and lamp oil.[682] Nevertheless, thirty or forty students had arrived at the university on the
day of its official opening, and by 12 April Jefferson could boast to his future grandson-
in-law Joseph Coolidge, Jr., of Massachusetts that the number had risen to sixty-five. "I wish
they may not get beyond 100. this year," Jefferson wrote, "as I think it will be easier to get
into an established course of order and discipline with that than with a greater number. our
English Professors give us perfect satisfn. the choice has been most judiciously made."[683]
680. For this notice, dated 16 February and signed by Brockenbrough, see the Richmond
Enquirer, 22 February 1825.
681. TJ to Brockenbrough, Notice to Students, 7 March 1825, ViU:PP. Jefferson instructed
the proctor to have the notice printed in the Charlottesville, Richmond, and Washington
papers.
682. See John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 28 February 1825, in ViU:PP. Bernard
Peyton wrote to Brockenbrough on 2 March to inform that "the present incumbent of the
Washington Tavern (Mr. Archibald Robertson) is about to discontinue it, & is desirous of
disposing of some thirty Beds & Mattrasses on reasonable terms" (ViU:PP). In April
Brockenbrough ordered stock locks, closet locks, bells and bell pulls, Venetian tassals,
"Japand Norfolk Latches," copper wire, and tin plate from John Van Lew & Co. (John Van
Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 19-25 April 1825, ViU:PP).
683. TJ to Coolidge, 12 April 1825, ViU:TJ. Joseph Coolidge, Jr. (d. 1879), married
Jefferson's favorite granddaughter, Eleanora Wayles Randolph (Ellen; d. 1876), in the
drawing room of Monticello on 27 May 1825.
Brickwork at the Rotunda
In March, Thorn & Chamberlain resumed brickwork at the Rotunda, where a sizeable
amount of brickwork apparently remained to be completed, in the early spring.[684] On 13
April, Jefferson's eighty-second birthday, Brockenbrough wrote to John Hartwell Cocke to
complain about two slaves that Cocke had sent from Bremo to the university to help in the
brickmaking.[685] The young men, Brockenbrough said, "are so small—I fear they will not
be able to stand the work of the season—My intention is only to work one table—the
Moulder whom I have employed is an Irishman and will work by the Thousand,
consequently will be (every day) a great days work (say three thousand bricks per day) I
shall keep the boys for a few days on trial (to day they are much fatigued with the walk of
yesterday—I wish very much tho' that you will send me two larger boys say Frank and
another of the largest size we had of you before . . . It is probable Capt Perry will take the
two boys if you wish, and will send me two other I will hire them to him."[686] When
drafting a year-end report that reviewed the expenses of maintaining the institution's fifteen-
member hired labor force and overseer for one year, the proctor estimated that in 1825 the
laborers had made between 800,000 and 900,000 bricks for the Rotunda, "in addition to the
other labour we have performed."[687]
684. See Brockenbrough's Balance Sheet, 31 March, and Nathaniel Chamberlain's Loose
Receipts, 22 March, 6 April 1825, in ViU:PP.
Macadamized Roads
The construction work that took place at the university during the rest of the spring and
summer, and into the fall of 1825, must be viewed through scanty records. Although the
process of building was winding down, Jefferson was as eager as ever to turn his inventive
mind toward a novel approach, and accordingly he directed his attention towards the
feasibility of laying macadamized roads for the streets and alleys that criss-crossed his
Academical Village. For some time he had "heard and read a great deal" about the
road-making method of John Loudon McAdam, the Scottish road surveyor and merchant of
New York. McAdam's method had become popular in England because it proved "much
superior to the former roads, and much cheaper." Therefore Jefferson cheerfully escorted a
"Mr. Owens" on a tour of the university grounds on 15 March to discuss the proper way to
lay the broken stones. From Owens, who had been at the "head of great works, and well
skilled," Jefferson heard that:
middle towards the edges 1. inch in 10. feet. the hardest stone is then broken
into small peices, no one of them to weigh more than an ounce, and the smaller
the better, this is laid on the road to a proper thickness, and duly attended to for
some time by smoothing the wheel tracks, until the mass becomes as solid and
smooth as a rock, which it soon does. he [Owens] thought 5. or 6. I. thickness
for our walks across the lawn would be abundant, and 10. or 12. I. for our
streets. we have so much hard stone, and so near, that this will be our best way
of preparing them. we will begin with the cross walks first, by way of trial. this
will render it necessary to keep your waggon till it is done. he says the breaking
of the stone is the work of children. it is probable our Professors know
something of this process. our paling should be very slight, merely of riven
slabs. three years last will be enough.[688]
The tests on the cross walks apparently produced favorable results, but soon after the
university's hired labor force began to pave the eastern street, it deviated from Mr. Owens'
directions. The difficulty stemmed from the proctor's inability to procure satisfactory sledge
hammers for the laborers to do the job.[689] Jefferson learned of the trouble and requested
Brockenbrough to correct the operation before matters went further astray. "Two or three
persons have mentioned to me their opinion that the way in which the laborers are
proceeding with the road of the Eastern street is not conformable in material circumstances
with McAdam's method," Jefferson informed the proctor. "I think you had better hold them
strictly to that; for if we differ from what has been proved good by experience, and should
fail, we should be justly blamed as wasting the public money on projects of our own, and
have to do the work over again." Jefferson went on to restate his own ideas of how the work
ought to be done:
McAdam's plan in his own words. were I to direct this work, I would first
arrange all the stone in a row on the outer side or edge of the street. then smooth
the earth 20. f. wide in the middle, making the middle 1. Inch higher than the
sides. taken there a stone of 3. oz. weight, and form an iron ring thro' which it
would just pass: then break up the whole of the stone, so that not a single one
should be larger than that, and spread it over the 20. feet of breadth 3. I. thick.
leave it thus to be used until it becomes solid, when another coat of 3. I. should
be laid on. if this (which I think is McAdam's method) has not been strictly
pursued, I would immediately change the method and go on in McAdam's way;
and if experience should hereafter shew that the part first done is not sufficient,
it may then be taken up, and done right. I would recommend to you therefore
not to lay another stone but in literal conformity with McAdam's letter.[690]
The process of macadamizing the streets, which required a "wagon & a pair of Horses
only," was not finished until about six weeks after Jefferson's death in 1826.[691]
688. TJ to Brockenbrough, 16 March 1825, ViU:PP. John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836),
who was born in Scotland, was a prominent New York Loyalist merchant who became
well-known for his crushed-rock method of road paving. Mcadamized roads became an
important feature of the American landscape by the time of the War Between the States. See
Spiro, "John Loudon McAdam in Revolutionary New York," New York Historical Society
Quarterly, 40 (1956), 28-54.
689. Thomas Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 4 June 1825, ViU:PP. Thomas
Brockenbrough told his brother that "I have made enquiry of several Mechanicks about the
Sledge hammers on the McAdam road making system, and none of them appear to know
what kind they are--Hutcheson and Humes both say if they had a proper description of them
they should be immediately made--Will you please give a sketch of them."
691. Committee of superintendence member John Hartwell Cocke explicitly directed the
proctor to use the hired labor to finish "compleating the McAdam ways" on 16 April 1826
(ViU:TJ), and Brockenbrough wrote to Cocke on 20 August 1826 to inform him that "the
McAdamizing of the cross streets will be finished in a day or two . . . I intend to have
another coat of Metal put over such parts of streets as require it" (ViU:JHC). John Patterson
of Pikesville, Maryland, on 7 June 1826 answered a query from Brockenbrough about the
McAdams "manner of making roads": "McAdam's plan has been adopted as nearly as the
prejudices of our road makers & managers would permit. And it is simply to break the stone
very fine, lay it on the bed of the road well shaped to let the water pass from it on the sides
into ditched drains. The only road that has been constructed in this state on these principles,
is the Boonsborough road about 12 miles in length, it was done under the direction of
McCorman, & is Said to be a perfect Specimen of excellent Workmanship-- "as to the Stone
or Metal. Our practice is to break it with hammers at 6 lbs [drawing] 3 to 4 feet of this shape
the breakers standing up & the handles somewhat longer than those of the common axes in
use with you. The stones (as I have found by a close attention to the thorough repair, or
rather renewal of 10 miles of the Rastenstown Turnpike,) are small enough to make a
smooth & firm road, when they will pass thro a reng [renge; a sieve or strainer] of two & a
half inches diameter; they are broken by the perch, what we call the Masons perch 24 feet 9
inches solid measure. The price of breaking varies according to the hardness of the Stone.
For instance. The white flint, or quartz that abounds in the vicinage of the University could
be broken here for 15 cents a perch And the black hard Stone on the river between Moores
Creek & Milton would cost 60 cents a perch. A road as firm & as durable & as smooth can
be made of the flint, as of the other. A skilful stone breaker can break 5 or 6 perches of flint
in a day, & of the other in proportion to the price. "To confine the metal at the edges when
put on the road a shoulder of Earth must be thrown up sufficient[l]y wide, and compact to
retain it as thus [drawing] Stone earth.--Our turnpike has twenty feet of broken stone in the
center, from 15 to 20 of earth on the sides when properly done-- "The breaking of Stone is a
trade & with the people you will have to employ, the Same results can not be looked for, as
we can attain here where we have been so long in the practice of the art-- "I would
recommend that you use the white flint stone rejecting all yellow flint or such as on
examination, seems proble or Apt to break into Sand with a Stroke of the hammer, The red
angellaceous stone that you have, would grind into mud, & sand Stone is utterly unfit for the
purpose-- "After preparing the bed of the road, put on the metal at three different times, it
will require patience, for before the travel shall have made it smooth there will be great
complaints of its loose, sharp & ugly looks, time however will prove its fitness--have the
tracks made by wheels carefully raked smooth, that they may not be tempted to continue in
one track, that would retain the water & injure the road--I sent to Genl Cocke some years
since McAdams' book on the subject of road making, you would find many useful
suggestions in it" (ViU:PP).
Clock and Bell
Next, Jefferson turned his still fertile mind to the ingenious clock and bell mechanism that
he wished to have installed in the tympanum of the portico on the Rotunda's south front (see
appendix Q). Understanding that the "art of bellmaking is carried to greater perfection in
Boston than elsewhere in the US.," Jefferson on 12 April wrote to Joseph Coolidge, Jr.,
asking for assistance in finding a skilled bell and clock maker. "we want a bell which can
generally be heard at the distance of 2 miles," he said, "because this will ensure it's being
always heard in Charlottesville. as we wish it to be sfft for this, so we wish it not more so,
because it will add to it's weight, price and difficulty of managemt."[692] The page of
specifications for the clock and bell that Jefferson enclosed in his letter to Coolidge shows
that the octogenarian still retained his lifelong fascination with machinery and, at least
where the university was concerned, was still willing to give his full attention and remaining
vigor to such inventions:
-
A clock is wanting for the Rotunda of the University; the size and strength of
it's works must be accomodated to two data. - 1. the bell weighs 400. lbs and is to be heard with certainty 1½ miles
-
2. the dial-plate is to be about 6 feet 2 I. diameter. it is to be fixed in the
tympanum of the Pediment of the Portico. the triangle of this tympanum has not
been measured exactly yet, therefore we cannot exactly ascertain the size of the
dial plate it will admit. - the bell is to remain free to be rung.
-
the ropes for the weights will have to go directly back about 30 f then turn off at
a right angle horizontally about 21. f. to the hole of their descent, which is 50.
feet deep consequently upwards of 100 f. long -
the rope for ringing must do the same, but on the opposite side, where there are
stairs. - it must be wound up on the back or inside.
- and the hands must be set right by a key on the back or inside
- what will such a clock cost?
-
the tympanum is 9 f 4 I in the perpendicular 42. f. in the span measured within
the cornice. -
the hole for the descent of the weights is 5. f. diam. in the clear opening 48 f.
depth, i.e. from the level of [t]he axis of the dial plate to the ground -
Within the naked of the [drawing of triangle] formg. the tympanum, a circle of
52. I. rad. may be inscribd. but more than this may I beleive be obtained if
necessary for the pendulum, the whole interior of the roof of the Portico being
vacant. -
allowing the dial plate 5. f. diam. clear within the tympanum, imbedded in an
architrave of 10. I. breadth, there will still be a space or margin 12. I. wide in
it's narrowest parts. -
the dial plate must be of metal of course, as wood would soon rot, in addition
therefore to the 5. foot of dial plate which will shew there must be margin to be
imbedded in a rabbet of sfft breadth to hold it firm within the architrave.[693]
It was nearly the fall of the year before Jefferson received Coolidge's letter of 5 August
saying that he could engage Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to build "as good a
clock as can be found in america" for $800, "the movement to be of purest brass, and of cast
steel. . . . the dial would be made at the University, where it could more exactly be
proportioned to the tympanum of the pediment." For a small compensation the maker
himself promised to travel to Virginia to ensure its "being well set up."[694] Willard
estimated that it would take about two months to make the clock but the university's
financial plight prohibited the placing of the order until exactly one month before Jefferson's
death in 1826.[695] A temporary system thus was devised to be set up "before a window of
the book room" in one of the pavilions on the west lawn in early 1826: its "face so near the
window as that it's time may be read thro' the window from the outside," directed Jefferson,
and the bell fastened to the ridge of its roof. It was left to the proctor to "contrive how the
cord may be protected from the trickish ringings of the students."[696] Willard's clock was
destroyed in the fire that ravaged the Rotunda in 1895 but its companion, the bell, survived
because it had been replaced in 1886 by one cast by McShane & Company of Baltimore
after a "group of high-spirited students" removed it from its mounting, "turned it upside
down and filled it full of water. Left through an unusually cold night, the water froze,
expanded and cracked the bell. The formerly clear tones became harsh and discordant."[697]
692. TJ to Coolidge, 12 April 1825, ViU:TJ. In the summer of 1832 the university
purchased for $500 a slaved named Lewis Commodore to serve as bell ringer and janitor.
Anatomical Lewis, as he became known, was the subject of a Board of Visitors resolution
on 27 June 1846: "Lewis Commodore the faithful and valuable servant of this University,
with the exception of Drunkeness, which had well nigh ruined him, having seen his error, &
for five months last past, maintained the steady and consistent course of a reformed man"
(ViU:TJ). William Spinner served as janitor in 1826 and a Mr. Brockman in 1827 and 1828
(see Spinner's Loose Receipt, 11 February 1826, and Brockman's Loose Receipts, 12, 21
February, 8 May, 4 September, 18 October, and 5 December 1827, 24 January, 5 February,
24 July, 8 October, and 3 November 1828, all in ViU:PP).
694. Joseph Coolidge, Jr., and Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge to TJ, 5 August 1825,
ViU:TJ. Jefferson's docket on the letter reads in part "recd. Sep. 2." Coolidge said that "Mr
Willard is universally reputed a very honest and ingenious man; and, besides many
instruments for the University at Cambridge, has made the clock in the Representatives'
Chamber, at washington, and one for New York; both of which are highly spoken of."
Coolidge also told Jefferson that Willard, "to whom, when at washington, you, yourself, Sir,
granted several patents for improvements in horometry," was "the best clock-maker" in
Boston. Simon Willard (1753-1848) was the more important member of a famous
Massachusetts family of clockmakers that included brothers Benjamin (1743-1803) and
Aaron (1757-1844). The Williards specialized in making "'banjo' clocks, with a circular top,
narrow trunk, and wide rectangular base" (Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the
World, 382).
695. See Board of Visitors Minutes, 7 April 1826, in PPAmP:UVA Minutes, TJ to Joseph
Coolidge, Jr., 4, 15, 22 June 1826, Coolidge to TJ, 15 June 1826, in ViU:TJ, TJ to
Brockenbrough, ca May 1826, in DLC:TJ, 22 June 1826, in ViU:PP, Coolidge to
Brockenbrough, 7, 25 August, 3 October 1826, in ViU:PP, Coolidge to Alexander Garrett, 7
August, in ViU:PP, Brockenbrough to Henry A. S. Dearborn, 10 July 1826, in ViU:#9927,
Dearborn to Brockenbrough, 17 July, 24 September 1826, in ViU:PP, and Coolidge to John
Hartwell Cocke, 31 October 1826, in ViU:JHC.
696. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 3 January 1826. Jefferson wrote Thomas Voight of
Philadelphia on 21 September 1825 to inquire about both the permanent "large clock and
bell, such an one as may be heard 2. miles distinctly and habitually," and an "8. day clock in
a mahogany case neat, without expensive ornaments, but of excellent workmanship and a
loud bell" (ViU:TJ). Voight passed Jefferson's request on to Coleman Sellers who in turn
gave it to Joseph Saxton, the "first rate workman" at Isaiah Luken's machinist shop at 173
High Street in Philadelphia, who submitted a bid to the proctor that was rejected because of
its high price (Sellers and Saxton to Brockenbrough, 4 October, in ViU:PP, and TJ to Joseph
Coolidge, Jr., 13 October 1825, MHi:TJ; see also Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas
Jefferson, 18:342-46). Benjamin Waterhouse wrote Jefferson from Cambridge,
Massachusetts on 22 October 1825 to explain the mechanics of Simon Willard's clock and
bell system and to suggest the possibility of substituting for the bell a "Chinese Goonge" in
order to save money (DLC:TJ), and Jefferson informed his granddaughter on 14 November
that "you may assure the old gentleman [Willard] from me that he shall have the making of
it [the clock]" (TJ to Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, ViU:TJ; see also Betts and Bear,
Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 460-63). Bernard Peyton informed Brockenbrough on
19 October that he could obtain a clock "with a plain Mahogony case" for $75 (ViU:PP),
and on 26 October Peyton wrote again to say that he had ordered the temporary clock, to be
made "of the best materials, except the case, which is to be Pine, or some other cheap wood,
& got read as speedily as possible, say in a month" (ViU:PP). The temporary clock, placed
onboard Captain Thompson Payne's boat at Richmond on 13 February, arrived at Shadwell
by 7 March 1826 (see Bernard Peyton to Brockenbrough, 10 March 1826, in ViU:PP).
697. The history of the bell is taken from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, 25 November
1964. The old bell was stored in one of the Rotunda's coal cellars and, sometime previous to
the fire of 1895, moved to Brooks Hall. "Between 1895 and 1948," the paper also stated,
"the identity of the bell had become obscured. It came to be regarded as a copy of the
original bell. During renovation of the Brooks Museum in 1948, the bell was removed to the
basement of the Bayly Memorial Museum. It was once again removed in 1956 to make
room for classes. It was the last move to Clark Hall that apparently went unrecorded. The
bell had been forgotten and was considered lost." Architectural students Peter Hodson and
Calder Loth discovered the bell in a "subterranean hiding place . . . resting between two lead
statues of Greek maidens" in November 1964 and it was returned to the Rotunda to be
placed on permanent display on 1 December 1964.
Chemical Laboratory
A month to the day after he sent his grand-son-in-law the specifications for the Rotunda's
clock and bell, Jefferson received a letter from Professor John Patton Emmet regarding his
experimental chemistry classes in Pavilion I. "I speak feelingly," Emmet explained, "When I
say that even a Small furnace, when in operation, makes my room oppressively hot, &
myself even more so, for from its necessary position, I am compelled, almost to Sit upon it.
You have determined that the room originally intended for me, should be fitted for a
museum, and with great propriety, for a chemical Laboratory would ruin any room in the
Rotunda." Emmet ventured to correct what he considered a deplorable situation by
submitting to Jefferson his sketch of a "lecturing room & Laboratory," separating into two
rooms the lecture hall and the laboratory "Apparatus" for conducting experiments. After
making an appeal in favor of the students' best interest and of the usefulness of the "great
Character of Chemistry" for society, the professor, with what must be described as faultless
Jeffersonian logic, asserted that his design ("drawn up without any reference to a Scale")
could "accommodate a full Class; being persuaded that if the measure be at all worthy of
your Consideration, it is the best economy to build it ample." Moreover, Emmet indicated
that a store room, "always useful in holding Supplies," could be built over the laboratory
room.[698]
What Jefferson thought of Emmet's plan is unknown but the university's precarious financial
situation did not permit the undertaking of any unexpected major structures at this time. By
June it was decided to allow the professor to set up his laboratory in the small room of the
Rotunda's basement (or ground floor) but the doctor quickly complained that the "want of
room & light" thwarted his purpose and demanded the two large oval rooms of the same
floor.[699] Jefferson consented even though it meant relocating the proposed museum to one
of the upper oval rooms.[700] The laboratory's Rotunda location was still incomplete at
year's end, however, when Emmet, visiting his home in New York City, wrote
Brockenbrough that he was anxious that the state of the room "should be looked to—the
tin-man promised most seriously to have the stove-pipe made & put up—as well as the
dampers, grate-doors &c—In raising the Stove pipes—let him secure the hanging shelf with
Sheet iron—he may then fasten the pipe to the Shelf."[701] Incidentally, Professor Emmet's
house, Pavilion I on the west lawn, still awaited completion at that time, apparently owing to
James Oldham's disagreement with the proctor and the carpenter's lawsuit against the
university. "My dear Sir," Emmet also pleaded with the proctor, "I must here, while there is
time, beg you to set my House in some order—I confidently expect, from your own promise,
to find the garret stair-case finished & the Kitchen & cellar room plaistered."
698. Emmet to TJ, 12 May 1825, DLC:TJ, and Emmet's Plan for Lecture Room and
Chemical Laboratory, 12 May 1825, DLC:TJ; see also #19-13 and #19-14 in Lasala,
"Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the University of Virginia." John Patton Emmet
(1796-1842), who was born in Dublin, Ireland, was eight years old when his parents
emigrated to New York. He attended West Point but left because of ill health and spent a
year in southern Italy before deciding to return to New York and enter the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, where he took a medical degree in 1822. At the University of
Virginia Emmet first served as professor of natural history and then as professor of
chemistry and materia medica. He lived in Pavilion I, where reportedly he "kept as pets
snakes, a white owl, and a friendly bear" until his marriage in 1829 to Mary Byrd Tucker, a
niece of George Tucker, University of Virginia professor of moral philosophy. Emmet later
moved to Morea, an estate to the west of the university, where he pursued horticultural
experiments. See Clemons, Notes on the Professors for whom the University of Virginia
Halls and Residence Houses are named, 29-34.
699. Brockenbrough to TJ, 6 June 1825, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 35-36. A pair of ovens recessed in the north wall of
the basement's east oval room were designed for Emmet's use in his chemistry experiments.
The small fireplaces were covered during Stanford White's reconstruction of the Rotunda
following the fire of 1896 and revealed during the building's restoration in the 1970s, and
can be viewed in the museum room. See Vaughan and Gianniny, Thomas Jefferson's
Rotunda Restored, 85, 91.
700. TJ to Brockenbrough, 7 June 1825, ViU:PP; O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 36. At its meeting on 3 October 1826 the Board of
Visitors resolved "to cause the small room on the first floor of the rotunda to be finished &
fitted for the reception of the natural and artificial curiosities given to the University by the
late venerable Rector; and to have them suitably arranged for preservation & exhibition"
(ViU:TJ).
701. Emmet to Brockenbrough, 5 January 1826, ViU: Tucker-Harrison Papers. Emmet
complained to the proctor on 12 April 1826 that "the Students have forced their way into the
Museum in Consequence of the imperfection of the door--a Suitable door has been made for
months and I wish it were put up as every thing in the room is now at the mercy of the
Students. I wish also that the doors for my lower rooms were put up as I want more light in
the passage and more Security to the property--When my Class have Commenced their
operations it will be greatly inconvenient to be interrupted" (ViU:PP).
The Dome Room
The correspondence in June 1825 between Jefferson and Brockenbrough regarding the
placement of Dr. Emmet's chemical laboratory also helps show the approximate progress of
the carpenters in completing the dome room (see appendix K). "In finishing the Library
room of the Rotunda," the proctor asked the rector, "in what way do you propose securing it
at the head of The stairs? whether by a partition around the well hole of the Stairs and a door
in the front of landing or a lobby extending to the rear of the columns next the stairs."[702]
Jefferson, who was again ill and thinking that "it may be weeks yet before I shall be able to
visit the University, even in a carriage," declared that he wished to erect a balustrade around
the wells of the staircases and enclosed for the workmen a "very beautiful form of a
balluster" suitable for both the balustrade and the staircases.[703] The proctor considered a
balustrade insufficient to protect the library from "any & every person" who might enter the
building but Jefferson, who did not live to see either the balustrade or the library room's
bookcases in place, fortunately did not deviate from his intention.[704]
The dome room at this time not only still lacked its balustrade (as did the staircases) and
bookcases, the room's columns also lacked their wooden composite capitals. The Richmond
artisan who contracted to carve the capitals, Philip Sturtevant, wrote to Brockenbrough on
18 June, saying that "I Have Ben More fortunate in Getting timber than I Expected that Is
White Pine from the State of Main for the Most important Part of My work that is the
Capitals . . . I Have Drawn the Capital and Shall Commence Cutting up my Stuff
tomorow."[705] Sturtevant, who also informed the proctor at this time that he would accept
$4 for each of eleven sets of wooden blinds that he had crafted and sent to the university,
wrote after finishing the capitals: "I never worked so Hard in all My Life Before I Worked
Nights till 12 and 1 Oclock Even in July and August [1826] untill I Got them done But I
think the work will Show for it Self."[706] Photographs of the dome room as it existed before
the Rotunda fire of 1895 attest to Sturtevant's skill as a woodcarver.[707]
Other work at the Rotunda progressed slowly, when at all. In July university plasterer
Joseph Antrim visited ornamentalist William J. Coffee in New York City to deliver drawings
of the decorative modillions and rosettes planned for the cornice of at least one room in the
building (that intended for the museum) and for the entablature of the portico.
Brockenbrough and Coffee exchanged several letters regarding what the latter called
"Compositions Ornaments for a corinthian Cornish." Dissatisfied with his earnings for the
composition work that he sent to the university at the end of the previous year, Coffee
informed the proctor that he did not wish to work in putty, "which is quite out of use and
never Employed," but only in lead and "my Composition."[708] Coffee instead proposed to
make 170 modillion leaves, a like number of rosettes, and 128 feet of frieze ornament in his
"baked earth" composition for $350, a fee the proctor called "extravagantly high."[709] By
September the proctor had convinced the artist to cut his price in half, but the two men
apparently discontinued their communication during the next month without settling an
agreement for the ornaments.[710] Not that it mattered much, for the unfinished state of the
plasterwork in the dome room would have prohibited the fastening of the ornaments in
place. (The joiners' dilatoriness in finishing their work apparently hindered the
plasterers.)[711]
703. TJ to Brockenbrough, 7 June 1825, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 36. The "beautiful form of a balluster" has not been
identified but see #17-14 in Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the University of
Virginia." Jefferson informed his granddaughter Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge on 27
August that his health had prevented him from stepping out of is house for several weeks
past "except to take the turn of the Roundabout twice; nor have of any definite prospect
when it will be otherwise" (ViU:TJ; see also Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas
Jefferson, 18:340-42). On 13 October Jefferson informed Ellen's husband Joseph Coolidge,
Jr., that "I had sensibly improved, insomuch as to be able to ride 2. or 3. miles a day, in a
carriage, and on our level Roundabouts. but going backwards and forwards on the rough
roads to the University for five days successively, has brought on me again a great degree of
sufferance, which some days of rest and recumbence will, I hope, relieve" (MHi:TJ).
704. Brockenbrough to TJ, 9 June 1825, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 36. Brockenbrough wrote John Hartwell Cocke on
20 August 1826: "I find D & Neilson will not be able to get up the hand rail & Balasters to
the Stairs so as to secure the room in a fortnight from this agreeable to their own acct.--if we
are to be governed by their former promises and engagements, it will probably be double
that time--there are a sufficiency of Book cases made to begin with and as it will take some
four or five weeks to get them in place, perhaps it would be better that a temporary partition
be put up at the head of the Stairs, if you approve of this plan, you can direct D & N. to have
it done" (ViU:JHC). Jefferson wrote Brockenbrough on 3 January 1826 that "it is high time
to have our bookcases in hand" (ViU:PP).
705. Sturtevant to Brockenbrough, 18 June 1825, ViU:PP. Sturtevant said that the size of the
composite capitals was "14¾ inches at the Smallest Part of the Collum"; Brockenbrough
wrote a more detailed description of their sizes on the document's verso on 14 July after
consulting with housejoiner John Neilson. Sturtevant wrote on 26 February to inform the
proctor that he hoped to have "a parte of the Capitals Ready the 19 or 20 of March and the
Ballance alonge as fast as you will Probely Get them up in waggons if you Should Know of
any in the neabourhood you will Pleas ask them to Call about that time" (ViU:PP). When
Bernard Peyton wrote Brockenbrough on 19 April 1826, he informed the proctor that "I
cald. on Sturtevant about the Wooden Capitals, who tells me they will be done on friday
next, & that some person had cald. for them, if they are not forwarded by this person,
whoever he may be, I will send them forward by the next Boat, with a charge to keep them
dry as you wish" (ViU:PP). Maine pine lumber was exported as far south as Alexandria by
former Revolutionary War Major General Benjamin Lincoln during the 1780s (see Mattern,
Benjamin Lincoln and the American Revolution, 151-52).
706. Sturtevant to Brockenbrough, 5 November 1826, ViU:PP. By mid-July 1826 Sturtevant
had earned $700 for carving capitals (see Sturtevant to Brockenbrough, 13 July 1826, in
ViU:PP).
708. Coffee to Brockenbrough, 12 July 1825, ViU:PP. The drawings for the interior
ornaments of the Rotunda apparently have not survived (see #17-16 in Lasala, "Thomas
Jefferson's Designs for the University"), although John Neilson's undated Architectural
Detail of a Modillion Block is in ViU:PP. Lasala calls Neilson's drawing "the only known
drawing to have survived showing a detail of one of the classical features at the University
of Virginia" (#17-15).
710. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 24 July, and Coffee to Brockenbrough, 26 July, 4, 25
September, in ViU:PP, Coffee to TJ, 19 August, in DLC:TJ, and Brockenbrough to TJ, 1
October 1825, in ViU:PP; see also Brockenbrough's undated Memorandum of Frieze
Ornaments for the Rotunda, and TJ to the Board of Visitors, 12 October 1825, in ViU:PP,
and O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 36-37, 41-43.
711. Jefferson informed Joseph Carrington Cabell on 4 February 1826 that the library "must
remain unopened until the room is ready, which unfortunately cannot be till the season will
admit of plaistering" (ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia,
363-64). John Hartwell Cocke and Alexander Garrett's Demands of the Resources of the
University, 31 May 1826, shows a charge of $250 for the "Cost of Plaistering" the library
room (DLC:TJ).
Stables
Meanwhile, the proctor arranged for stables to be constructed at a site selected by Jefferson
below the eastern range (see appendix R). The brickworkers judged the area unsuitable
when they arrived to lay the buildings' foundations, however, and Brockenbrough
dispatched a servant named John to Monticello with a message for its owner, informing him
that "the situation for the eastern range pointed out by you is rather unfavorable in
consequence of the ground falling two ways, (to the east & south) about fifty or sixty yards
from the place designated by you and on the same side of the eastern street there is a
beautiful situation for them, if agreeable to you, I will place them there."[712] Jefferson
consented to Brockenbrough's proposal to relocate the stables, "provided it be exactly in the
line designated, that is to say, provided their front is exactly in the range of the line of the
future Hotels &c. on the opposite sides of East & West streets."[713] In September 1826
Doctor Robley Dunglison desired the "corner behind the stable on my side" (Pavilion X) for
a place for his two "Sous" because it did not require "Much fencing" and wrote the proctor
to see if the land was unappropriated.[714]
712. Brockenbrough to TJ, 27 June 1825, ViU:PP. The proctor's address on the
letter indicates that a servant named "John" took the letter to Monticello and
returned with Jefferson's reply.
713. TJ to Brockenbrough, 27 June 1825, ViU:PP. John Hartwell Cocke and Alexander
Garrett's Demands of the Resources of the University, 31 May 1826, shows that $40.25 was
owed on "Stables" (DLC:TJ).
714. Dunglison to Brockenbrough, 8 September 1826, ViU:PP; see also Sherwood and
Lasala, in "Education and Architecture: The Evolution of the University of Virginia's
Academical Village," in Wilson, Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village, 44. One Bremo
slave, Nelson, apparently worked as a "stable servant" and gardener for professor Dunglison
following his removal from house service in the professor's pavilion because of "his
inability to do his duties," and General Cocke seems to have rented slaves to some of the
other professors as well (Dunglison to John Hartwell Cocke, 25 December 1826, ViU:JHC).
Wooden Blinds
The proctor also began looking for a craftsman capable of making the hundreds of sets of
wooden shutters planned for the windows and doors of the buildings, and in August Joseph
Pitt, Malcom F. Crawford, and John W. Simpson handed in separate bids to make them.
(Philip Sturtevant, who had already made eleven sets of wooden blinds for the university but
was carving the wooden capitals for the Rotunda's dome room, did not offer a
proposal.)[715] Pitt offered to furnish the university "Blinds Complete" for $8.75 "on
windows of 12 Lights-glass 12 by 16 and in the Same Proportion for Larger or
Smaller."[716] Crawford said he would "put Venition Shutters to all of the doors & Windows
. . . Ironed and Painted in the best Manner, to W[i]t. all the Twelve Light Windows, Twelve
by Eightteen Glass @ Eight Dollars & fifty Cents pr. Window—and all the other Windows
& doors at the same rate-in proportion to that Size."[717] Simpson said he was "disposed to
undertake the making of the Vernission Blinds, which I understand is to let, for Eight dollas
62½ Cts. pair and the meterials of the best quality & If requested will give security for the
performance."[718] Crawford's bid was accepted and he was still engaged in installing
shutters in the fall of 1827.[719] Shutters for all the windows of the pavilions and dormitories
were later estimated to cost $2,500.[720] Interestingly, in August 1825 Benjamin Blackford
was still shipping large numbers of "Large Sash Weights" from the Isabella Furnace to the
university, apparently for the windows of the Rotunda.[721]
720. See TJ to the Board of Visitors, 12 October 1825, ViU:PP, Brockenbrough's Statement
of the Debts and Resources of the University as of 1 October 1826, in his letter to the Rector
and Board of Visitors, 11 December 1826, and Nicholas P. W. Trist to Brockenbrough, with
enclosure, Questions and Answers, 1826, in ViU:PP.
Anatomical Hall
In September 1825 Brockenbrough estimated that another $15,000 would be needed to
finish the Rotunda, "exclusive of the Circular room."[722] When the Board of Visitors
assembled for its scheduled fall meeting during the first week of October it had nothing
concerning the buildings on the table for consideration except a section in the draft of its
annual report to the president and directors of the Literary Fund.[723] "It has been
indispensable," the report stated, "to finish the circular room, destined for the reception of
the books; because once deposited in there places, the removing them for any finishing
which might be left to be done hereafter, would be inadmissible. That has therefore been
carried on actively, and we trust will be ready in time for the reception of the books." The
visitors also reported that it had been indispensible to begin the work at several "other
apartments" in the Rotunda-"two for a Chemical Laboratory, one for a museum of Natural
History, and one for Examinations, for Accessory Schools, and other associated purposes.
An additonal building too for Anatomical dissections, and other kindred uses, was become
necessary. We are endeavoring to put these into a bare state for use, altho with some
jeopardy as to the competence of the funds."[724]
While Dinsmore & Neilson continued to perform the carpentry work in the dome room,
William B. Phillips began laying bricks at the Anatomical Hall.[725] In mid-winter Jefferson
instructed the proctor to reserve all his funds for the "book room" of the Rotunda and for the
Anatomical Hall. "till the latter is in a condition for use," Jefferson said, "there can never be
a dissection of a single subject, nor until the bookroom and cases be completely done can
we open another box of books."[726] Furthermore, Jefferson complained a couple of days
after he celebrated his eighty-third and last birthday in April 1826, "We are not satisfied with
the slowness with which the buildings have been conducted the last year, and particularly
with respect to the Library, and the Anatomical theatre. these ought to have been done
before this.[727] Professor Charles Bonnycastle, frustrated that "No preperations are yet
making for plastering" the elliptical lecturing room assigned for his use in the Rotunda "or, I
beleive, for any thing else," found "nothing that I can see but the interest of Messors Nelson
& Di[n]smore to oppose me."[728] In fact, it was a month after Jefferson's death before
Joseph Antrim submitted his proposal to "put stucco cornices and do the plastering that
remains undone inside of the rotunda . . . Said subscriber will also Plaster the Anatomical
hall on same terms except the materials which must be acertained, say one half of the
amount of Plastering & materials."[729] The roof of the Anatomical Hall was not finished by
August 1826 when Brockenbrough complained to the surviving member of the committee of
superintendence: "I do not recollect how the roof is finished agreeable to Mr Js: design, but
D & Neilson is geting timber for an expencive chines raling around the top, this, if left me
whether the original design or not, I think I should stop, a plain plinth like Pavilion No 8
over the Cornice is quite sufficient."[730] Shortly after this, professor Robley Dunglison
asked the proctor to require John Neilson to stop working on the building's "lower floor
which may not be wanted for a considerable period" and finish the "upper Room . . . which
is appropriated for a Lecture Room."[731] The incomplete state of the Anatomical Hall,
however, had not prevented the university from spending $85.25 for two skeletons that it
obtained from Dr. Robert Greenhow of New York in the spring of 1825 for use in training
the medical students.[732]
722. TJ and Brockenbrough, Queries and Answers, 19 September 1825, DLC:TJ.
Brockenbrough's estimate varies somewhat from that given in his General Statement of
Finances of 30 September, which estimated the "Balance as required to complete the
Rotunda & Anatomical Hall" at $25,535.32 (ViU:PP). That document also shows debts of
$30,000 owed "to Carpenters, Plasters, Stone cutters, Painter &c for work on the Rotunda."
723. The board did rule on a proposal respecting space for gardens and livestock for
university officers: "The board being of opinion that so much of the grounds of the
University as can be conveniently applied to that purpose, should be laid off in lots for the
uses of the Professors, the Proctor, and Keepers of the Hotels, rent free, but to be enclosed
and improved at there expense, therefore Resolved that the Proctor under the direction of the
Executive Committee do cause such lots to be laid off and assigned to the several Pavilions
& Hotels and to the Proctors house" (PPAmP:UVA Minutes, 5 October 1825).
724. Board of Visitors Annual Report to the Literary Fund, 7 October 1825, PPAmP:UVA
Minutes; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 483-87. The Board of
Visitors at its spring meeting on 4-5 March 1825 had resolved to build the Anatomical Hall
as soon as funds became available (ViU:TJ; see TJ to Brockenbrough, 9 March 1825, in
ViU:PP).
725. See William B. Phillips' Loose Receipts of 18 December 1825 for $100 "on acct of
Brick work on the Anat: Hall &c" and of 31 March 1826 for $76.56 (ViU:PP); John
Hartwell Cocke and Alexander Garrett's Demands of the Resources of the University, 31
May 1826, shows a figure of $1,250 for "Phillips' Accot. for Anat. Hall," part of the total
$1,736.30 "Paid towards the Anat. Hall" by that date (DLC:TJ).
726. TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 4 February 1826, ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early
History of the University of Virginia, 363-64. The Board of Visitors claimed when drafting
its Annual Report to the President and Directors of the Literary Fund on 7 October 1826 that
the "Liberary Room in the Rotunda has been nearly completed, and the books put into it.
Two rooms for the Professors of natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and one large lecture
room have also been fitted for use" (ViU:TJ). On the verso of a letter that Coleman Sellers
of Philadelphia wrote to Brockenbrough about city commissioner Joseph Morris the proctor
made this memorandum about hardware for some of the Rotunda's cabinets: "40 Flat back
best quality book case locks for our Library with Keys alike that one may open all or nearly
so--at any rate not more than 4 or 5 different Kinds--the doors are 1¼ Thick--a Sufficiency
of Suitable Screws--2 Doz Desk lock for Emmets Mineral cases" (ViU:PP). Morris's Loose
Receipt of 16 December 1826 for $24.12½ worth of locks and keys, written at Philadelphia,
is in ViU:PP.
728. Bonnycastle to Brockenbrough, 10 April 1826, ViU:PP. Jefferson met with Bonnycastle
on 20 April to discuss the lecture room and the following day wrote to the professor: "I
omitted, in conversn with you yesterday to observe on the arrangement of the Elliptical
lecturing room that one third of the whole Area may be saved by the use of lap boards for
writing on instead of tables, the room will hold half as many again, and the expence &
lumber of tables be spared. a bit of thin board 12. I. square covered or not with cloth to
every person is really a more convenient way of writing than a table[.] I am now writing on
such an one, and often use it of preference[.] it may be left always on the sitting bench so as
to be ready at hand when wanted" (ViU:TJ). Jefferson wrote Brockenbrough on 5 May
promising to "send you soon a drawing of the Library tables for the Rotunda" (ViU:PP), but
Lasala suggests that Jefferson's last illness may have prevented him from sketching the
designs for the dome room's curved library tables (see #17-18 in "Thomas Jefferson's
Designs for the University of Virginia").
729. Antrim to Brockenbrough, 7 August 1826, ViU:PP. John Hartwell Cocke wrote to the
proctor on 27 September 1826 respecting the "internal Cornice of the rotunda now to be
done, get the prices pr. foot of Dinsmore & Neilson to execute them in wood & the prices of
Antrim to execute them in plaister--with details of their models, respectively" (ViU:PP).
Jefferson Still Active
As another building season was drawing to a close, Jefferson was aware that he probably
would not live to see the buildings at the university entirely finished. In his October reply to
a query about the French Revolution he described his declining health: "Eighty two years
old, my memory gone, my mind close following it 5. months confined to the house by a
painful complaint, which, permitting me neither to walk nor to sit, obliges me to be
constantly reclined, and to write in that posture, when I write at all . . . I never declined
business while I was equal to it. but I am now, and for ever past it. I am dead as to that [the
French Revolution] and my friends and the world must so consider me. . . . the little of the
powers of life which remains to me, I consecrate to our University. if divided between two
objects it would be worth nothing to either."[733] Although he never lost interest in the
university, Jefferson's contributions to its establishment waned in proportion to his
increasing debilitation during the last months of his life.
That Jefferson still troubled himself with smaller objects like the construction of wood yards
and smokehouses for the professors is evidence of his persisting concern for the institution,
however. "Wood yards, inclosed in paling," Jefferson said, could be placed in areas
convenient for the professors and their families, like in a "nook of ground adjacent to Dr.
Dunghilson's inclosure, on the outside, where the wood yard would not be in the way of any
thing. there are similar ones I believe at Mr. Tuckers, and Dr. Emmet's I see no objection to
the wood yards being placed there. the gentlemen in interior situations will be obliged to
have them in their inclosures, or in a corner on the outside."[734] Jefferson also informed the
proctor that "a smoke house is indispensable to a Virginia family," and instructed him to
erect several of the buildings:
Professors I omitted to mention three essential precautions in building
meat-houses.
1. they should be tightly paved with brick to prevent rats from burrowing under
them. 2. a shelf should be run all round the inside of the house above the top of
the door 12 I. wide at least; 18 I. would be better, smooth planed below, and no
supports below. a rat from below can never pass that shelf to get to the meat in
the roof. 3. not a crevice should be left for a ray of light to enter the house. a fly
cannot stay in a room compleatly dark. every housekeeper knows the losses in
meat houses from rats & flies.[735]
The smokehouses, if they were built at this time, had not been paid for by the end of 1826
when Brockenbrough made a statement for the Board of Visitors estimating the cost for six
of the buildings to be about $100 each.[736]
734. TJ to Brockenbrough, 12 November 1825, ViU:PP. Robley Dunglison, professor of
anatomy and medicine, lived in Pavilion X; George Tucker, professor of ethics, in Pavilion
IX; and John Patton Emmet, professor of natural history, in Pavilion I (see Sherwood and
Lasala, "Education and Architecture: The Evolution of the University of Virginia's
Academical Village," in Wilson, Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village, 44).
736. See Brockenbrough's Statement of the Debts and Resources of the University as of 1
October 1826, in his letter to the Rector and Board of Visitors, 11 December 1826, in
ViU:PP.
Marble at Richmond
The only other matters pertaining to the construction process at the university during the fall
and ensuing winter were the difficulties that Bernard Peyton faced in Richmond as he tried
to find river captains willing to transport the Carrara marble bases and capitals up the James
River from Rocketts to Scottsville, and from Scottsville to Shadwell Mills on the Rivanna
River. The marble, which had been ordered in October 1823, arrived at Boston from
Leghorn in August 1825, 31 bases and 37 cases of paving squares on board the ship
Caroline, and 24 capitals on board the brig Tamworth. It was then transported from Boston
to New York City, where the bases were placed on board the sloop Eliza and the capitals on
the schooner General Jackson, for their voyage south.[737] Once at Richmond, however,
boat captains in the area steadfastly refused to take on board any of the pieces because of
their weight, estimated by Peyton at 3 to 5 tons each.[738] Neither would any of the
numerous Augusta County wagoners dragging between Richmond and the Shenandoah
Valley take on the marble, not being fixed for hauling blocks of such massive size. Even
after boat captains were found who were willing to freight the marble, low water in the fall
and ice in the winter prevented its shipment until spring 1826, and the last piece was not
shipped from Richmond until the third of May.[739] It should be noted that bricklayer
William B. Phillips could not begin building the portico's brick columns until after the
marble bases had been delivered and set in place by stoneworker John Gorman. Once
Phillips finished his work, Joseph Antrim plastered the columns, and John Gorman fixed the
capitals upon them.[740]
737. See Henry A. S. Dearborn to TJ, 6 September, in ViU:TJ, and 20 September, in
DLC:TJ, and Jonathan Thompson to TJ, 9 September, and 3 October 1825, in ViU:PP.
738. In fact two vessels refused to transport the marble from Leghorn (see TJ to
Brockenbrough, 13 September 1825, in ViU:PP).
739. For the transportation and payment of the marble capitals from Leghorn to the
university, including Peyton's efforts, see Thomas Appleton to TJ, 4-12 May, in DLC:TJ,
Appleton's Account for Marble Capitals, 4 May, in ViU:PP, Appleton's Bill for Marble
Columns, 22 June, in DLC:TJ, TJ to Brockenbrough, 24 July, 30 August, in ViU:PP, TJ to
Thomas Appleton, 10 August, ViU:TJ, Bernard Peyton to Brockenbrough, 3 September, 8,
17, 19, 26 October, 12 November 1825, 10, 24 March, 8, 19, 22 April, 3 May 1826, in
ViU:PP; Henry A. S. Dearborn to TJ, 6 September, in ViU:TJ, 20 September 1825, 25 April,
21 June 1826, in DLC:TJ, 22 September, 21 October 1825, in ViU:PP; TJ to Dearborn, 12
September 1825, in ViU:TJ, 3 May 1826, in DLC:TJ; Dearborn to Brockenbrough, 17 July
1826, in ViU:PP; Brockenbrough to Dearborn, 10 July 1826, in ViU:#9927; Jonathan
Thompson to TJ, 9 September, 3 October, 17 November 1825, in ViU:PP; TJ to
Brockenbrough, 13 September, 9 October 1825, 2, 5 May 1826, in ViU:PP, 8 November
1825, in DLC:TJ; TJ to William Cabell Rives and Littleton Waller Tazewell, 25 November
1825, in DLC:TJ; TJ to Rives, 22 April 1826, in DLC:TJ; Rives to TJ, 30 November 1825,
in DLC:TJ, 13 March, 13 May 1826, in ViU:TJ; Board of Visitors Minutes, 7 April 1826, in
PPAmP:UVA Minutes; John Patton Emmet to Brockenbrough, 2 May 1826, in ViU:PP; John
Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 9 May 1826, in ViU:PP; TJ to John Hartwell Cocke, 20
May 1826, in ViU:JHC; Cocke and Alexander Garrett, Demands of the Resources of the
University, 31 May 1826, in DLC:TJ.
740. See John Hartwell Cocke and Alexander Garrett, Demands of the Resources of the
University, 31 May 1826, in DLC:TJ, which lists figures against the university of $120 for
William B. Phillips' bricklaying account for "Portico Columns," $500 for Joseph Antrim's
"finishing" of the same, and $100 for John Gorman "Setting Bases & Capitals."
|
Chapter 10
The Building Campaign of 1825
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |