 |
Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
New Buildings Contemplated
The professors also made demands of Brockenbrough. Charles Bonnycastle, anxious to
move into Thomas H. Key's pavilion, wanted the interior of the building painted
throughout.[809] Bonnycastle also designed a small building for his "astronomical purposes
an octagon of 14 ft in diameter," estimated by the proctor to require 5 to 6,000 bricks and to
cost $100 to $150, or perhaps less, if built of bricks that had already been made at the
university.[810] William Leitch and Samuel Campbell built the observatory the next
spring,[811] with the help of plasterers and painters, Lewis S. Carter and John Kennedy.[812]
It contained a 97-square-feet "spherical roof" made out of sheet iron, "cheaper," the proctor
said, "than I could have it done in wood & tin cover."[813] John Patton Emmet handed in a
plan for a more substantial building, a "Chemical Lecture room & Laboratory 40 by 60
feet." The proctor did not even bother to calculate the cost of the second structure,
"presuming it will not be put up untill after a Meeting of the Visitors."[814] Some alterations
were made to Emmet's existing laboratory the next year, however, which "tolerably well
pleased" him.[815]
809. See Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 7 October 1827, in ViU:JHC.
Brockenbrough said that "I gave [Bonnycastle] to understand it was an expense I could not
undertake without the approbration of the Executive Committee--The Walls of the Stair way
are very dusty, and whitewashing would not stick on them, I should recommend painting in
the place of it, What think you of it?" Cocke approved of painting the stairway, "or doing
what else may be necessary to render the tenement decent & comfortable--but the state of
the funds will not admit of doing more" (Cocke to Brockenbrough, 22 October 1827,
ViU:PP).
812. Lewis S. Carter's Account, 22 June-13 September 1828, ViU:PP. The account shows
that Carter and Kennedy were credited with $8.67 on 22 June for "6½ days work self &
Kennedy at the observatory" and $14.67 on 14 July for "11 Days plastering at the
observatory." The two men also were credited $67.33 for 50½ days plastering and
whitewashing at the university, including work at Pavilions III, V, and X, and Hotels D and
F. Kennedy also did some of the plaster work at the cisterns (see Loose Receipt, 6
November 1828, in ViU:PP).
813. Brockenbrough to John Hartwelll Cocke, 4 March 1828, ViU:JHC. Brockenbrough
continued: "The windows tho' are not be dispensed with, &c the expence of them rather
increased by putting sashes & Glass in the North & South window. where as at first he only
required Shutters--The work shall be executed as cheap as possible, as for instance 8 by 10
glass & battoned or ledged Shutters--I hope with the Subscriptions I shall be receiving and
the timber that will come off the land it will in our power to pay for it without making a
draft on the loan or annuity--" Battened or ledged shutters are made by fastening horizontal
strips of wood on the rear of parallel vertical boards to hold them together and give the
whole strength. They are generally of a plain and simple nature.
|
Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |