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Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
The Dome Leaks
The struggle to overcome an inadequate drainage system probably was exacerbated by the
spring rains of 1826, which not only brought water levels back up enough so that the marble
bases and capitals could be shipped from Richmond to the university but also revealed leaks
in the Rotunda's roof. After visiting the university on 4 May ("my ride yesterday has
worsted me so much that I cannot repeat it"), Jefferson determined to confer with John
Hartwell Cocke about the best way in which to "remedy" the problem, created he thought,
by the "ignorance" of Richmond tinworker Anthony Bargamin, whose permanent absence,
of course, made him an easy target for receiving blame. "my own opinion," Jefferson wrote,
"is in favor of another cover of tin laid on the old one without disturbing that. but Broke
must be employed. we ought not to trust to people of whose skill we know nothing. the
ignorance of the Frenchman is what costs us a new roof. As soon as this is done we must
cover the ill appearance of the plaistering by a whitewash, either of lime or Spanish
white."[746] A figure of $250 was charged against the university in late May for "Additonal
Covering for Dome of the Rotunda,"[747] and Daniel Warwick on 12 June shipped "10.
Boxes Tin plates IX @ $15" by wagoner Christian to the university for the building.[748] A.
H. Brooks wrote Brockenbrough from Staunton on 13 June to let the proctor know that "I
received a few lines from you requsting me to let you heare if I Could Come over to doo a
Job for you and what I would Charge for it, as to the price of Such work I Can Say nothing
becuase I never have done any work of the kind and Could not Say till I See what is to be
done. my tooles is nearly 200 miles from this place and I expect a Job at that place in a
Short time. but Sopose you have Some if So let me know by next mail by which time I
expect to heare from my tooles, I Should think the old Covering must Come off but would
be better able to Judg if I Could See it."[749]
747. See John Hartwell Cocke and Alexander Garrett's Demands of the Resources of the
University, 31 May 1826, in DLC:TJ.
748. Warwick to Brockenbrough, 12 June 1826, ViU:PP. D. W. & C. Warwick and Co.
shipped six boxes of tin plate and one bundle of sheet iron to the university by wagoner
William Estes on 28 April, and Daniel Warwick sent four more boxes of tin plate on 31 July
(see Daniel Warwick to Brockenbrough, 28 October 1826, in ViU:PP). The total cost for the
metal was $300.08.
749. Brooks to Brockenbrough, 13 June 1826, ViU:PP. Brooks wrote the proctor again on 19
June to say that "the ill health of my Step Son Compells me to Start to Lewisburg [now West
Virginia] to morrow on my return I will either write or Come over" (ViU:PP). Jefferson
must have been particularly chagrined when he recieved a letter from his grandson Francis
Wayles Eppes, written at Poplar Forest of 23 June: "Knowing that all of your pavilions at
the university have tin coverings, I write to learn whether they have ever leaked, and if so
what method of prevention had been used. Our roof here was perfectly close until about mid
winter. It then began to leak not in one but a hundred places: and from that time I have
endeavoured to discover the cause without effect. For some time I thought that the water
found its way, between the sheeting and the bottom of the platform, just where the gutters
vent their water, but after removing the tin and making the sheeting perfectly tight, I found
myself mistaken. A subsequent examination immediately after a hard rain, showed me, on
the lowest side of every sheet of tin, spots of water on the sheeting plank. This water must
have been drawn upwards, as there were no traces above: and that a few drops could be so
drawn up, I could readily conceive; but the quantity is really incridible. The plaistering of
the parlour is so entirely wet every rain, that I begin to fear it will fall in. Large buckets of
water pass through it. Your room is nearly as bad and the others leak more and more every
rain. The hall is in fact, the only dry room in the house. I have been so completely baffled in
every attempt to stop the leaking, that I really feel quite at a loss; we have had here, in the
last four weeks three of the most destructive rains ever known in this neighbourhood. The
tobacco hills on flat land were entirely swept off" (Betts and Bear, Family Letters of Thomas
Jefferson, 478-79).
|
Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |