Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University of Virginia, 1817-1828

On 7 October 1826 the Board of Visitors prepared its annual report to the president and
directors of the Literary Fund of the recent progress of the work and what remained to be
done:

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. The work of the
Anatomical Hall is so far advanced that it may be used early in the next session.
The Portico of the Rotunda has been finished, with the exception of the flight of
steps and the laying of the marble flags, which have been received and paid for.
The work remaining to be done, is the finishing of one large oval room, one
small one, and the entrance Hall of the Rotunda with the unfinished parts of the
Portico and about one fourth of the Anatomical Hall. Some small additions are
also necessary for the better accomodations of the Professors in their Pavilions,
and of the students in their Dormitories, and for a few other minor objects.[763]

Although the books were placed in their cases in the season following the meeting of the
visitors, faculty secretary William Wertenbaker on 15 January 1828 sent a faculty resolution
of the day previous to the proctor asking him to inform the executive committee that "the
Books in the Library especially those in the Gallery are now materially suffering from
damp, and that it is impossible for any person to remain in the Library with comfort during
the Winter season . . . do also suggest to the Executive Committee to have the lecture rooms
furnished with Stoves, the fire places having been found insufficient for warming and drying
the apartments, hence they are exceedingly disagreeable and unwholesome especially in the
morning."[764]

[763]

763. Annual Report to the President and Board of Directors of the Literary Fund, 7 October
1826, ViU:TJ. At the end of the year the proctor estimated the "Supposed Amt due to D &
Neilson after finishing the Rotunda & anatomical Hall" to be $10,000, not counting $1,500
for the "finishing of the Steps of the Portico," $1,000 for "All other work after D & Neilsons
work is completed on the Rotunda," and $1,000 for the anatomical Hall exclusive of D &
Ns. bill"; add the venetian blinds, smokehouses, and water supply, and the "Supposed sum
to meet all the demands against the University of Va and complete the unfinished buildgs"
totaled $23,473.72 (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, ViU:PP).

[764]

764. William Wertenbaker to Brockenbrough, 15 January 1828, ViU:PP. William
Wertenbaker was the son of Christian Wertenbacher, who moved from Baltimore to Milton
following the Revolutionary War (see Wust, Virginia Germans, 100). Wertenbaker often was
involved in transmitting the visitors' resolutions to Brockenbrough (see appendix U). In the
first quarter of the 19th century, cast-iron Franklin and "six-plate box" stoves were typically
for warming parlors and sitting rooms. "Beginning in 1816," writes Nylander in Our Own
Snug Fireside, "stove manufacturers patented a variety of innovations, such as smoke
domes, which increased the radiating surface of a stove or improved combustion efficiency;
but it was not until the 1830s that these were produced in very large numbers. Once these
technologically improved stoves were readily available, 'Franklin Stoves, of Old patterns'
were advertised for sale at 'reduced prices.' The installation of cast-iron stoves in parlors,
sitting rooms, and even some bedchambers in the years after 1820 resulted in a more
efficeint and reliable source of evenly distributed heat than had been possible with open
fireplaces" (99-100). Incidentally, until William T. James of Troy, New York, patented the
first successful cookstove in America in April 1815, Count Rumford's cast-iron roasters and
boilers were the best ovens available for cooking. By 1823 the Troy firm of James & Cornell
had sold 5,000 of James' distinctively ornamented ovens, at a cost of $15 to $50 each, and
by mid-century another 550 patents had been issued for cookstoves (ibid., 213-18).

	Chapter 11 The Final Years: 1826-1828 Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University of Virginia, 1817-1828

University of Virginia Library

The Visitors Meet without Jefferson