 |
Chapter 2
The Building Campaign of 1818
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Chapter 2
The Building Campaign of 1818
"prospect," to put buildings on hill-tops.
—Edgar Allan Poe
"The Man of the Crowd "
Commissioners Appointed
On 21 February 1818 the Virginia General Assembly passed an "An Act appropriating part
of the revenue of the Literary Fund and for other purposes," section 8 of which required the
executive to appoint twenty-four "discreet and intelligent persons, who shall constitute a
Board of Commissioners to aid the Legislature in ascertaining a permanent scite for a
University and for other purposes." On 18 March Preston appointed the commissioners,
including James Madison, for the senatorial district composed of the counties of
Spotsylvania, Lousia, Orange and Madison.[105] This act was an important step in the story
of the founding of the University of Virginia but it is largely outside the scope of this
study.[106]
105. James Patton Preston, Appointment of Commissioners to Choose a Site for the
University of Virginia, 18 March 1818, DLC:JM. Preston enclosed the commission in an
unfound letter to James Madison of the same date (see Madison to Preston, 19 May 1818, in
Vi: Executive Papers).
106. See Richard Beale Davis, Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia, 1790-1830, 62-69.
Davis called Jefferson's educational venture a "cooperative intellectual enterprise to which
many Virginians contributed."
Stonecutters Sought from Italy
Now that arrangements for the brickwork were taken care of for the moment, Jefferson
turned to another matter that also would consume much of his time, that of recruiting
stonecutters from across the Atlantic. He initially contacted Thomas Appleton, the
American consul in Leghorn, setting out his requirements for a cutter's qualifications, and
specifying that the craftsman must come to Norfolk or Richmond, and to no other place.
Since vessels usually did not often sail from Leghorn directly into either of those ports,
Appleton wrote to Jefferson on 20 December to say that "had you been less explicit, I
Should have Sent an excellent workman to the immediate care of the Collector of Baltimore,
requesting he would not suffer him to remain a Single day in that City; but I have not
thought myself at liberty to deviate in the smallest degree from your positive
instructions."[107] By the time Jefferson received Appleton's letter and could send a reply
three and one-half months had gone by. On 4 April Jefferson apologized for his "ignorance
of the degree of intercourse between Leghorn and Virginia" and for his "unfortunate
instructions" that prevented his wishes to be carried out. He informed Appleton that he now
needed two stonecutters instead of one, "as our college will furnish them abundant
employment. and let both be competent to the cutting an Ionic or Corinthian capitel this is
indispensable." Appleton could consign the artists to merchant John Hollins in Baltimore,
"the best port out of Virginia,"[108] and the following day Jefferson wrote to Hollins to
advise him of the role he was desired to play in managing the stonecutters arrival from
"Leghorn, where I know they can be had of the first degree of skill, and for one third of what
ours ask. . . . forward them on by the stage to Charlottesville. in this case it will be essential
that they be not permitted to stay in Baltimore a single day as they would learn there the
wages of that place, and would not come on, or stay when come."[109] It would be four
months before Jefferson's letter to Appleton arrived in Leghorn, and much longer before the
Italians stonecutters arrived in America.[110]
Progress is Slow
As the spring flowered forth a commensurate growth in the progress of building at the
college failed to materialize. Jefferson did write to Latrobe on 19 May to apologize for his
failure to keep up his end of their correspondence.
in which you were so good as to take an interest, and to contribute to it from the
store of your time and talents. the pavilion we had begun before the reciept of
your draughts is not yet pushed but will be so in the course of the month of July.
we shall within mutilated commence your Palladian Corinthian, being the left
hand figure of the upper row on your paper, in which we permit no alteration
but the Substitution of a flat, for the pyramidal roof, which, seen over the
pediment, has not, we think, a pleasing effect.[111]
Although Jefferson planned to utilize Latrobe's drawings in designing some of the individual
pavilions for the Central College, his mind was clearly thinking about the larger scheme that
might yet be accomplished through the assistance of the Virginia legislature, that of
designing the buildings of a full-fledged a university for the Old Dominion.
pavilion, which would probably be your 3d. & 5th. or perhaps 2d. in the same
line. but the legislature has appropriated 15,000. D. a year to an University, &
we think it nearly certain they will engraft it on our stock, which we offer them
if they will adopt our site. this will call, in the first instance for about 16.
pavilions, with an appendix of 20. dormitories each: and we expect each
pavilion with it's dormitories to cost about 10,000. D. our funds may be called
60,000. D. and the legislature will have to add about 100,000. more to compleat
these buildings, exclusive of your central one, which would be reserved for the
Center of the ground. we propose 10. professors, each of whom will have his
pavilion & dormitories, and for each two professorships we must erect an hotel
of the same good architecture. these we shall assign to French families, who
will undertake to board the students on their own account, and thus furnish the
means of their learning to speak French, by interdicting the utterance of an
English word within their doors. . . . this is our plan, resting at present on no
other uncertainty but that of the adoption of the Central College for the scite of
the University. several of your fronts, altho' beautiful, cannot be brought within
our limit of 34. or 36. feet.[112]
John Lewis, a nephew of Jefferson's law professor George Wythe and an attorney who
moved west from Virginia to Franklin County, Kentucky, in 1832, said in an interview many
years after Jefferson's death that while visiting Monticello in 1819 Jefferson told him that
the $15,000 annual appropriation from the Virginia legislature "would be so expended, that
they would amount to nothing, unless more were added. Finally, the amount would be so
great, rather than lose it all, they would go on and complete the work. By this I learned that
Mr. J. had a character for artlessness and simplicity, where in fact—he could accomplish his
measures by deep laid schemes."[113]
112. TJ to Latrobe, 19 May 1818, DLC:TJ. House of Delegates and Board of Visitor
member David Watson of Louisa also looked forward to the Central College being chosen
as the site for the new university. "I am really sorry that it is out of my power to attend [the
spring Board of Visitors meeting]," Watson wrote to his brother-in-law Peter Minor of
Ridgeway on 10 May, "for I am anxious to see the visitors, & know what's the prospect, &
what's to be done, about turning the Central College into the University of Virga., which I
think with good management, & the help of three presidents, may be done" (ViU: Watson
Family Papers).
113. Undated interview with John Lewis, Shane Historical Collection, vol. 13, 116-17
[314-15], WiHi: Draper Collection. "The University was a great political movement," Lewis
continued. "It was designed to provide an institution for the whole South and South-west,
and thus, to prevent that patronage from going to the north. To train up a democratic party,
under the influence of education. There was no hostility to William and Mary. But here was
a definite end. It was necessary, in order to attain it, to go up from the low-lands--which
were unhealthy, and which were forsaken at a given period of the year by all the
wealthy--who were able to leave. It was necessary to go up into the mountains. It was
moreover more central." Lewis also claimed that Jefferson at the same time read a letter in
his presence from John Adams "telling him of a report--that he had gotten the declaration of
Independence from the Mecklenburg resolutions." For Adams' duplicity with Jefferson
regarding the Mecklenburg document, see Ellis, Passionate Sage: The Character and
Legacy of John Adams, 121.
Arrival of Brickmasons
Other than Jefferson's letter to Latrobe, correspondence for the period is silent about
progress on the buildings at the Central College until the middle of June, when the
bricklayers finally arrived to begin their work. The process of brickmaking of course was
carried on in full force as the seasonal weather permitted in order to prepare the final
product for the workmen's schedule. In an age when most buildings were still built entirely
of wood, making several hundred thousand brick was quite an undertaking.[114] Bricks are
simple artificial building blocks made out of natural materials (chiefly clay, lime, and water,
with small quantities of other compounds) that are baked at a temperature much higher than
the boiling point to expell the water. Although the sizes and usages of bricks varied widely
from place to place, as did the exact "processes of manufacture," the "standard" size or
"building dimensions" of bricks in the 19th century was about the same as today, 9 inches
long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches thick. Hand-made bricks typically require some type of
mold to form the blocks' shape and to allow for sun-drying before burning and cooling,
which takes place in a kiln, itself a brick structure built to house thousands of bricks.[115]
When writing about Jefferson's insistence on the use of stone and marble in The South in
Architecture, Lewis Mumford observed that building with brick and stone was "a little
different" from what the average American workers were used to. "It took time to explore
the resources of clay and stone; to test out their hardness, their ability to stand fire, their
weathering qualities. Native resources are not always immediately visible; and when they
are, there are often difficulties of transportation to overcome."[116] Jefferson was fortunate in
that his beloved Virginia Piedmont provided a ready source of quality clay and lime, and
when the bricklayers arrived at the college on 17 June John Perry wasted no time in
notifying Jefferson that "The Brick layers got here yesterday and will begin to lay Some
time this evening. I Should be glad you Could make it Convenient to Come to the building
to day—the dormetories will be laid of to day—the Circle next the road is Staked of So that
you Can See how to fix on the level."[117] Before the end of the month Hugh Chisholm was
drawing $800 to pay to John Perry "on account of Brick work done at the Central
College."[118]
114. Larkin notes that during this period in American history, "few used brick and stone
except for German settlers and their descendants" (The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 107).
115. Jaggard, Brickwork and its Construction, 1-3, and The Stonemason and The Bricklayer,
203.
118. Chisholm to Nelson Barksdale, 29 July 1818, ViU:PP. Some material that has been
marked out on the verso of this letter (which also contains Perry's receipt for $800), in
accountant Martin Dawson's writing, indicates that a portion of this payment was for
brickwork completed the previous year, $200 on 25 October and $300 on 6 November 1817.
On 6 July 1819 Perry wrote Jefferson requesting the ballance of his wages (ViU:TJ).
Bernard Peyton Recruited
In the week before the arrival of the brickmasons at the college, Jefferson had written
Richmond merchant Bernard Peyton laying claim to a "right to give you occasional trouble
with [the college's] concerns." For the next decade Peyton proved to be an unflagging
supporter of the university's interest in Richmond, caring for important details like arranging
for the purchase of pork for the university and managing the difficult and dangerous job of
loading the heavy marble capitals onboard the small vessels that would carry them by water
from Rockett's wharf on the James River in Richmond to Milton, the busy village on the
Rivanna River just east of Charlottesville near Monticello.[119] Jefferson's immediate
request for the college was the recruitment of a slater, preferably "a mr. Jones, a Welshman
who did some excellent work in Charlottesville, and who is supposed to be now in
Richmond," to come and examine the slate on "all our lands on Henderson's & B. island
creeks," to see if it would serve to cover the buildings. Promising Jones, or "some other
good slater," expenses and wages if he would come without delay, for he was to set out for
Bedford in 3 weeks for a month's stay, Jefferson enclosed "a specimen of our slate from
which he may form some judgment of the probability of finding what will answer."[120]
119. Rockett's Landing was a major wharf on the James River in Richmond in the vicinity of
31st and Mains streets where "various steamers plying between Richmond and Norfolk,
Fortress Monroe, Baltimore, and New York" arrived and departed. Robert Rockett operated
a ferry there as early as 1730 and tradition has it that Abe Lincoln walked from Rockett's to
the Davis mansion when he visited Richmond on 5 April 1865. See Weddell, Richmond
Virginia in Old Prints, 190, 216, and Lutz, A Richmond Album, 70, 82. Jefferson's former
farm manager Edmund Bacon recalled in an interview given in Kentucky during the Civil
War that Milton "was the head of navigation for bateaux. A great deal of flour, grain, and
other produce was brought from the western part of the state and shipped there, the wagons
carrying back groceries and other things that the bateaux had brought from Richmond. This
and other business employed a good many families. Nearly all the families in Milton were
supplied with firewood from Mr. Jefferson's estate" (Bear, Jefferson at Monticello, 80).
Rockfish Gap Commission
Jefferson, who did go to Poplar Forest as planned, arrived back at Monticello on Saturday
18 July to find the buildings for the college coming on "with some spirit." He immediately
begin preparing for his journey the next week to Rockfish Gap in eastern Augusta County,
where the commissioners appointed to report to the legislature were to determine, in his
words, whether the Central College "ought not to be adopted for the University."[121]
Jefferson met from 1 to 4 August 1818 with nearly two dozen distinguished Virginians
(three commissioners failed to show) at the tavern at Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge
Mountains.[122] "It was convenient to me to send a mattrass & trussels for myself," he
informed a Mr. Barnet, and he requested "ever so small a lodging room to myself."[123]
Thanks to Jefferson's "shrewd preparation" during the spring and summer, the meeting at
Rockfish Gap became a triumphal turning point;[124] the commissioners divided along
sectional lines, choosing for the university the eventual site of the Central College
in Charlottesville as a "convenient & proper" place to establish the University of Virginia over
either a Staunton or Lexington location.[125] Jefferson, jubilant that the vote was 16 to 5 in
favor of his college, wrote his daughter, Martha, on the last day of the meeting: "I have
never seen business done with so much order, harmony, nor in abler nor pleasanter society.
We have been well served too. Excellent rooms, every one his bed, a table altho' not elegant,
yet plentiful and satisfactory. I proceed today with Judge Stuart to Staunton."[126]
122. For the Rockfish Gap Commission, see the Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for
the University of Virginia, 1-4 August 1818, in Vi., and the Report of the Commissioners for
the University of Virginia, 4 August 1818, in ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, (appendix I) 432-47; Honeywell, The Educational Work of Thomas
Jefferson, (appendix J), 248-60; and Knight, A Documentary History of Education in the
South Before 1860, 3:162-78. The attending members unanimously elected Jefferson to
preside over the commission.
126. TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 4 August 1818, in Betts and Bear, Family Letters of
Thomas Jefferson, 423-24. Archibald Stuart (1757-1832), who was born in Waynesboro,
studied law under Jefferson following his Revolutionary War service as an aide-de-camp to
Major General Nathanael Greene. At this time Stuart was judge of the General Court of
Virginia for the Augusta district. He built a mansion on Church Street in Staunton that was
later occupied by his son, Judge Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart, an early graduate in law
from the university and President Filmore's Secretary of the Interior in the early 1850s.
The Commission's Report
The Rockfish Gap Commission's final report, written by Jefferson and signed by the
twenty-one commissioners present, was, says Jefferson scholar Noble Cunningham, "the
mature product of years of contemplation on the subject of education in a republic."
Although the report contains Jefferson's comprehensive plan for instruction and governance
at the University of Virginia, only one paragraph of this "remarkable document" is relevant
to the matter at hand,[127] "that of proposing a plan for its buildings." The commission was
of opinion that the plan
each side of a lawn of a proper breadth, & of indefinite extent, in one direction,
at least, in each of which should be a lecturing room with from two to four
apartments for the accommodation of a professor and his family: that these
pavilions should be united by a range of Dormitories, sufficient each for the
accommodation of two students only, this provision being deemed
advantageous to morals, to order, & to uninterrupted study; and that a passage
of some kind under cover from the weather should give a communication along
the whole range. It is supposed that such pavilions on average of the larger and
smaller will cost each about $5,000, each, dormitory about $350 each, and
Hotels of a single room for a Refectory, & two rooms for the tenant necessary
for dieting the students will cost about $3,500 each. . . . The advantages of this
plan are, greater security against fire & infection; tranquillity and comfort to the
Professors, and their families thus insulated; retirement to the students, and the
admission of enlargement to any degree to which the institution may extend in
future times. It is supposed probable that a building of somewhat more size in
the middle of the grounds may be called for in time, in which may be rooms for
religious worship under such impartial regulations as the visitors shall
prescribe, for public examinations, for a Library, for the schools of music,
drawing, and other associated purposes.[128]
The Rockfish Gap Commission's recommendation that the Central College adequately fit the
description of "some central and healthy part of the commonwealth" sufficient to situate a
state university assured the college's future selection by the legislature when it came time to
actually charter the University of Virginia. The inclusion in its report of the above general
scheme of building guaranteed that Jefferson's architectural wonder eventually would
receive state financial assistance (and hence stability), and the official sanction of the plan
by the commission set the precedent that would become important later when Senator
Cabell waged the necessary political battles in Richmond.
128. Rockfish Gap Commission Report, 4 August 1818, in Knight, A Documentary History
of Education in the South Before 1860, 163-64; see also "Extract from the Report of the
Commission for the University of Virginia, assembled at Rockfish Gap, in the County of
Augusta, August 1, 1818," in Cabell, Letter and Accompanying Documents Relative to
Literary Institutions of the State: Addressed to His Constituents (Richmond, 1825), in
ViU:JCC.
The Virginia Springs
From the Blue Ridge Jefferson journeyed to Warm Springs, where he thought he might
"remove some Rheumatic affections which have long incommoded me occasionally." Upon
his arrival at the spa, he wrote his old friend Thomas Cooper, who at this time was
scheduled to become the Central College's first professor, to inform him that the school had
been selected as the site for the university but complained that "Our 1st. pavilion has been
much retarded by the disappointments of workmen. I think it may be ready to recieve you
within 3. months from this time, and that within that time one wing of 9. dormitories may be
ready, and in the course of the season another pavilion & 2. more wings of dormitories."[129]
Obviously the pace of the work was moving much more slowly than Jefferson had
anticipated, and Board of Visitor member John Hartwell Cocke noted in his diary on his way
to the Virginia springs nearly three weeks later that he found the work at the college
"progressing slowly towards Completion—The first pavillion of the Doric order just cover'd
in—and one range of Dormitories ready for roofing—The leveling of the top of Hill will be
compleated this Fall.—The foundation of the North range of Dormitories just dug
out.—[130]
129. TJ to Cooper, 7 August 1818, DLC:TJ. When the Central College was superseded by
the University of Virginia the new Board of Visitors elected Cooper to a profesorship of
chemistry, mineralogy, natural philosophy, and law, to begin in April 1820. The
postponement of the opening of the university because of a lack of funds, combined with the
"storm of clerical protest" against Cooper's unorthodox religious views, eventually led to a
revocation of Cooper's appointment (Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of
Monticello, 366-69, 376-80).
130. John Hartwell Cocke, Diary, 26 August 1818, ViU:JHC. The waters at Warm Springs
did not have the therapeutic value that Jefferson hoped for. "I returned from the warm
springs a few days, in prostrated health, from the use of the waters," he wrote to Thomas
Cooper on 12 September, "their effect, and the journey back reduced me to the last stage of
exhaustion; but I am recovering. . . . the steady progress of my convalescence assures my
being well . . . I cannot yet set erect to write and writing with pain I must do it with brevity"
(DLC:TJ). TJ's serious indisposition following the trip lasted several months; on 8
November he informed Julien Honoré that "my health is getting better slowly, but I do not
venture out of the house yet" (DLC:TJ). On 6 October TJ described his illness at length in a
letter to Colonel William Alston of Clifton, S.C., whom he met at the springs with an
entourage of "eight other Alstons, big and little" (see Reniers, The Springs of Virginia, 49).
TJ wrote Alston to inform him that he had "made up a box of a couple of dozen bottles" of
French and Italian wine and was sending it to South Carolina via Bernard Peyton of
Richmond: "I became seriously affected afterwards by the continuance of the use of the
waters. they produced imposthume, eruption, with fever, colliquative sweats and extreme
debility. these sufferings, aggravated by the torment of long & rough roads, reduced me to
the lowest stage of exhaustion by the time I got home. I have been on the recovery some
time, & still am so; but not yet able to sit erect for writing. among my first efforts is that of
recalling myself to your recollection, & of expressing the gratification I derived at the
springs from your acquaintance & society. however little of life may remain for cherishing a
cordiality which it must so soon part with. it will not be the less felt, while feeling remains,
and in the hope that the tour I recommended of the upper & lower valley of the Blue ridge
may give me, the ensuing autumn, the gratification of recieving you at Monticello, I pray
you to accept the assurance of my friendly attachment & high respect" (DLC:TJ). TJ again
described his illness on 5 July 1819 in a letter to Henry A. S. Dearborn of Boston: "I
recieved yesterday your favor of June 24. and am very Sensible of the interest you so kindly
take in my health. the eruptive complaint which came upon me in Aug. last was
unquestionably produced by the bath of the warm springs, which I tried on account of
rheumatism. the cause of the eruption was mistaken, and it was treated with severe unctions
of mercury & sulphur. these reduced me to death's door, and on ceasing to use them I
recovered immediately, and consider my health as now perfectly re-established, except some
small effect on the bowels produced by these remedies and nearly, altho' not entirely worn
off. I am still thankful for your recipe, and should the eruption return, I shall certainly try it's
effect, in preference to those before tried" (DLC:TJ). For more on TJ's illness, see his letters
of 6 October to Mathew Carey, Julien Honoré, James Breckinridge, and Joseph Dougherty,
his letters of 7 October to John Adams and William F[arley]. Gray; Robert Walsh, Jr., to TJ,
8 November, TJ to David Baillie Warden, 24 November, and TJ to George Ticknor, 24
December 1819, all in DLC:TJ, and ibid., 54-55. In a letter to John George Jackson of 27
December, TJ pronounced himself "entirely recovered" in strength and in health: "My trial
of the Warm springs was certainly ill-advised. "for I went to them in perfect health, and
ought to have reflected that remedies of their potency must have effect some way or other. if
they find disease they remove it; if none, they make it" (DLC:TJ). Unfortunately, TJ became
seriously ill twice again during the following year. On 7 November 1819 he wrote Robert J.
Evans "I am just now recovering from the third long & dangerous illness which I have had
within the last 12. months" (DLC:TJ), and on the same date he wrote John Adams that
"Three long and dangerous illnesses within the last 12. months must apologize for my long
silence towards you" (DLC:TJ).
Partnership Established
In late September the Lynchburg bricklayer Matthew Brown notified Proctor Nelson
Barksdale that Charlottesville carpenter John M. Perry had joined him as an "equal partner
in the Brickwork I have already done and also all that will be done by me this present
year."[131] Perry apparently handled both the labor and the financial aspects of the
partnership, for in December Brown wrote to Barksdale again to assure the proctor that
Perry "is fully authorised to Conclude the Settlement with you for the Brick workd done by
me this year at the Central Colage."[132] When making a proposal for brickmaking the
following spring, Perry claimed that the brickwork for the Corinthian pavilion "which tho
undertaken by M. Brown was actually executed by me."[133]
John Perry was involved in more than brickmaking during this period. The talented and
active carpenter continued to work on the pavilion he had managed to weasel a contract for
when he sold the land to the college, and he had the foresight and means to purchase a
sawmill on Ivy Creek in the fall of 1818 and thus began hauling lumber to the college for
other contractors beginning in September. That piece of minor good luck apparently helped
expedite the work across the grounds, for Perry's account with James Dinsmore, who was
building "Pavillion No 2 West," shows that he steadily provided Dinsmore with scantling for
his building, even during the slow winter months.[134] Perry proved to be the most
enterprising contractor in the area and ultimately profited more from the building of the
Academical Village than any other undertaker at the university.
134. See John M. Perry, Account with James Dinsmore, 18 September 1818 to 10
September 1821, in ViU:PP. The account shows that Perry hauled scantling to Dinsmore for
29½ days before the end of 1818.
Professorship Declined
It was near the end of October before Jefferson took up his pen again to describe "what we
called the Central college, about a mile from the village of Charlottesville and 4. miles from
this place [Monticello], and have made some progress in the buildings." This time Jefferson
was writing to entice Nathaniel Bowditch to accept the chair of mathematics at the college,
soon to be a new state university. "The plan of building," said Jefferson according to a now
familiar theme, "is not to erect one single magnificent building to contain every body, and
every thing, but to make of it an Academical village . . . with kitchen, garden Etc. distinct
Dormitories for the students, not more than two in a room, & separate boarding houses for
dieting them by private housekeepers." Besides offering Bowditch a salary of $2,000,
Jefferson bragged about the area's soil, health, "genial climate," extremely cheap
"necessaries of life," religions, and the inhabitants, the "substantial yeomanry of farmers
(tobacco long since given up)." In short, Jefferson concluded, "our society is neither
scientific nor splendid, but independant, hospitable, correct and neighborly."[135] Bowditch
nevertheless declined the generous offer of a professorship, citing for a reason "several
important trusts (amounting to nearly half a million of dollars) undertaken for the children
of an ancient merchant late of this Town . . . My income from these various trusts &c.
exceeds $3,000, Considerable time is left to me to devote to those studies which have been
the delight of my leisure hours."[136]
William John Coffee
As winter approached Jefferson received a letter from William J. Coffee, an English artist
skilled especially in plaster of paris who later made the detailed ornamental frieze work for
the university buildings as well as the interior plaster ornaments for Poplar Forest.[137]
Coffee, not yet employed on any of those projects, wrote concerning "inquires with relation
to your Cisterns," a favor Jefferson had asked of him on a previous visit to Monticello.
According to Coffee, what was needed to line the cisterns at Monticello, and what the
university did in fact later use, was "A cement caled Roman Cement but made in England in
many Places it is much Cheaper and by all that have used it in this great City thought to be
the best Cement ever Introduced for works under water. this I my Self know that in England
20 years Experianc has proved to this to the world its Value." In addition to his letter, Coffee
made and enclosed his "Notes on the Roman Cement," a rambling description of the
substance complete with lengthy detailed directions for its application, with an observation
that "All the new And fashionably Houses have Cistrens made of this Cement and in Som
Cases the Outsids Are decorated it is now coming in to Vouge in this City Very fast." Coffee
told of supposed examples of the cement's success and indicated its cost ($9 pr Barrel of five
Bushels); he also enclosed a "printed Card so that you will know ware to Aply to should you
make up your mind to use it," and "two or three Specimens of the Cement as Imported . . . I
got from out of A Barrel Just Opened in The Public Store for Inspection this you know must
be Considerd a fare trial." After rambling on about the "Operation" of the cement (Coffee's
advice on how to apply it) the eccentric artist concluded, "I fear by this time you will be
very glad my Small sheet of paper is allmost full of Any thing you like to Call it you have
brought it on your Self and thar cant blame me."[138] Coffee's inquiry into the Roman
cement had been done as a favor to help Jefferson fix the cisterns at Monticello, and the
university later benefitted from the investigation when it began to build cisterns to hold
water for the university's fire apparatus (see appendix T).[139]
137. William John Coffee (1774-ca 1846), an oil painter and sculptor who worked in
porcelain, plaster, and terra cotta, emigrated from England to New York City in 1816. The
following year Coffee traveled to Monticello to sculpture the busts of Jefferson and two
family members, daughter Martha and granddaughter Ellen, and in April 1818 he visited
James Madison at Montpelier where he won a commission to model the busts of Madison,
his wife Dolly, and her son. After that Coffee made plaster busts of many other prominent
Americans, and with Jefferson's help he made a southern tour for that purpose in 1821. See
Rauschenberg, "William John Coffee, Sculptor-Painter: His Southern Experience," Journal
of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 4 (November 1978), 26-48, and two unpublished papers
loaned to the author and placed on deposit at the Albemarle County Historical Society by
Brian Bricknell of England, "William John Coffee, 1773-c1846, Modeller, Sculptor, Painter
and Ornamentalist: His Career in America, 1817-c1846," (August 1993), and "William John
Coffee, 1773--c1846, A Brief Review with Emphasis on his Employment by the Derby
Porcelain Factory, (February 1994). Coffee made the composition and leaden ornaments for
all the pavilions and the Rotunda (ViU:PP, Ledgers 1 and 2), and he apparently made the
Bucrania in the freize of the great hall at Estoutesville in 1828. See Lay, "Charlottesville's
Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:51, Lay, "Jefferson's
Master Builders," University of Virginia Alumni News, 80 (October 1991), 16-19. James
Gibson casted plaster ornaments for the cornices at Pavilion V (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
138. Coffee to TJ, 7 November 1818, DLC:TJ. Beneath his docket for the letter Jefferson
wrote this memorandum: "the Roman cement is a native production of the Isle of Thanst. it
is an earth impregnated with iron ore, the vitriolic acid & Manganese. and it is said may be
found wherever there is an iron ore."
139. Peter Maverick's engravings of the ground plan of the university show five cisterns, all
of which were located immediately outside the garden walls: one each behind Pavilions V
and VII on the west lawn, and one near the rear of each of the three hotels on the eastern
range (see Guinness and Sadler, Mr. Jefferson, Architect, 136-37, 150, and O'Neal,
"Iconography of the Nineteenth-Century Prints of the University of Virginia," in American
Association of Architectural Bibliographers, Papers VI, 75-80. Other early sources of water
included the old reservoir on Observatory Mountain and two ponds to the northwest of the
Rotunda, photographs of which from the 19th century are in Special Collections, Alderman
Library, ViU; see also O'Neal, Pictorial History of the University of Virginia, 100-101.
The Raggi Brothers
In November 1818 Thomas Appleton sent Jefferson the good news that he had finally found
two Italian stonecutters willing to travel to America. "By the first vessel bound to any
Southern port, I shall convey to you, the two artists you are desired of obtaining, and I hope,
Sir, you will find them corresponding, in all respects, to the wishes you express'd in your
letter." The elder of the two, said Appleton, was Giacomo Raggi, a very able artist in his
45th year: "he is capable of cutting the columns of every order of Architecture, and in which
are compris'd pilastres, cornice, basement, pedastals, indeed all those members, which come
within the denominations of "il Solida": After this, another order of workman is requir'd,
which is term'd in italian "Ornalista," who performs all the ornamental parts of the
columns." For this latter work Appleton selected Michele Raggi, Giacomo's 35 year old
cousin, said to be equally able in his profession. Both men were married and had been
warmly recommended to Appleton by friends at Carrara, and both men, said Appleton,
"appear in great vigour of health; and their morals are irreproachable." Agreeable to
Jefferson's instructions, Appleton stipulated a three year term, with a "Suitable lodging and
diet," and $525 Spanish dollars wages to each annually.
been sent to the U. States; and their salary is not more than one half of what
others have been allow'd.—they will carry with them all their necessary
instruments of working; together with many plans and models of
architecture.—in a word, Sir, before they depart, a notarial act of the most
binding sort, will be sign'd by them, and a copy sent to you.—You are sensible,
Sir, that it is extreamely difficult, if not impossible, to find any of this order of
men, who are to leave, perhaps, forever, their native country, without
anticipating some portion of their first year's salary; I shall therefore be
compell'd to advance to each, about—150. dollars, to prepare them for So great
an undertaking.—It is also, the universal custom among our merchant-captains,
to receive the passage-money before sailing, which I presume, will be—100.
dollars each, So that, at least, 500. dollars will be requir'd; and no bill, however
good, on the U.S., can be dispos'd of, at less than 10. Ct. discount; and this I
shall be compell'd, I presume, to allow to the purchasers—I believe that neither
of these artists require any incitement to conduct themselves with honesty and
good faith; but I have made to them a sort of homelie, which seems to have
deeply impress'd their minds, that their happiness, at least in this world,
depends on an undeviating observance of honor and fidelity.—there is now but
one American-vessel in port; and which is bound to India—indeed, never has
there been a period, during the 20 years I have resided here, that the commerce
of all parts of the mediterranean was at so low an ebb, as at the present time,
however, by the first vessel, the artists Shall be Sent; and, depend Sir, every
proper precaution shall be taken, that they may be safely consign'd into your
hands."[140]
This apparent good news from Italy respecting the importation of stonecutters would not be
received by Jefferson until 19 February 1819, three months later.
140. Appleton to TJ, 10 November 1818, DLC:TJ. Cote briefly discusses the Raggi brothers'
work at the university, in "The Architectural Workmen of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia,"
69-71.
Tin Roofs Considered
Also in November 1818, Jefferson dispatched housejoiner and college contractor James
Dinsmore to the Virginia Shenandoah Valley on a tour to "report on the Eligibility of Tin as
a Covering for Houses as Introduced in Staunton." Dinsmore interviewed a Mr. Smith and a
Mr. Cowan, owners of the two "Principal Houses" that recently had been covered with the
roofing material, as well as A. H. Brooks, the workman who put it on, and who eventually
covered the roofs of seven pavilions.[141] "They all acted with great Candour & were at
Considerable Pains to give me every Information they were in possesion of," Dinsmore said.
Cowan, who assisted in the covering of his roof and at the beginning lacked a "pratical
Knowledge of the evils to be avoided," experienced some leakage when the first side of his
was covered. He thought tongued and grooved sheeting would be an additional security but
was afraid the heat of the sun through the tin would draw up the edges of the sheeting and
thereby render the surface of the tin uneven. Dinsmore, for his part, said he did not have
"any apprehension on that Score with Pine Sheeting Seasoned & well nailed down, without
Groveing." Jefferson's favorite workman also "Suggested the Propriety of Painting the tin
before laying down," a step all three men agreed would be an advantage. Smith in fact
already had painted his roof, a measure that sealed the joints "perfectly tight" and that
eliminated minor leakage from "Suction as heretofor." Smith also warned that the laps at the
lower ends of the courses of tin should not be less than one and one half inches.
With these precautions Dinsmore thought a tin roof may be made as tight as one of any
other metal and claimed to have it on good authority that in Montreal and Quebec tin roofs
had proved their durability by lasting forty or fifty years without painting or loosing any of
their soundness. "The last one executed in Staunton (Mr Cowans)," he added, "has a very
handsome appearance and its lightness is Certainly a great recomendation." As far as cost,
Dinsmore informed Jefferson that "the first Cost of the tin for Covering Mr Smiths House
was about $8 pr Square Say $135 for what Coverd 17½ Square but one eighth additional
may be allowed for Increasing the width of the laps—Mr Brooks price for Cutting and
machineing is $2 per Box—for Putting on $5 per Square—the Cost for nails is very
trifleing." The Staunton men cautioned that a considerable quantity of inferior tin was on the
market and Dinsmore closed by saying that "Zinc Costs 21 Cts the Sup[erfici]al foot and
appears to be a very Solid evenly, Sheet about the thickness of English milld Lead . . . it
Solders very well."[142]
Now that it was known that tin was a viable roofing option at the college, in addition to slate
which had been considered back in the summer, one more material was left to considered,
the traditional wooden shingle. The week following his report on tin, Dinsmore and fellow
undertaker John Perry set about to determine the cost of covering the college's roofs with
this more traditional material. "From the best Calculations Mr Perry & My Self Can make,"
Dinsmore reported, "we find that a Square of Hart Pine Shingling, all expences Included,
viz. timber, getting, Hauling Putting on, Nails &c Cannot at Present be done for less than ten
Dollars."[143] At one third less the cost per square (100 square feet), wood shingling
appeared far cheaper than tin, but considering the limited life span for exposed pine as
compared to the other materials, it ultimately was decided to cover the buildings with slate
or experiment with tin.
141. ViU:PP, Ledgers 1 and 2. Brooks covered the roofs of Hotels A, B, and C, all the
pavilions except nos. III, V, and VII, and several dormitories, and he covered the gallery and
put up tin pipes at Pavilion III, and installed tin gutters and did minor tin work at Pavilion V.
Brooks received $156.59 for covering Pavilion X, for example. Jefferson thought Brooks
charged too much for the type of work that he executed (see appendix N). The Proctor's
Ledgers show that "Carpenter Sam" (apparently a slave) also did tin work at Pavilions V and
VII, Hotels A, D, and F, and some of the dormitories, and that Anthony Bargamin of
Richmond, who covered the roof of the Rotunda, installed the gutters at Pavilion III.
Search for More Bricklayers
As the year neared its end and the winter begin to set in, only the perennial matter of
contracting with brickmakers was left to be taken care of at the college. On 14 December
David Meade Randolph, Jr., of Presqui'ile plantation wrote to recommend an Englishman
"named Warrener, a bricklayer & plasterer by trade," who was qualified to "execute the
ornamental branches of his trade," and who was looking for employment in his line of work
and willing to "work one month on trial on any terms you please."[144] Jefferson was
unwilling to deliver such a large undertaking to the Englishman, who though thoroughly
skilled obviously lacked the necessary capital and other means to carry on the scale of work
required at the college. He replied to Randolph a week later that should the legislature adopt
the Central College for the site of the university, "advertisements will be immediately put
into the public papers for undertakers of the brickwork Carpentry & housejoinery, from
which every one will learn in that way & to whom they are to apply for employment. there
will be abundant work for them."[145]
Planning the manufacture and laying of hundreds of thousands of bricks for the coming year
was more important than the application of one unemployed (even if highly skilled)
bricklayer and plasterer. Apparently the college was experiencing some difficulty in
maintaining quality control over the brickwork, for a chimney built by Hugh Chisholm for
James Dinsmore on Pavilion II had to be taken down and rebuilt, according to a
measurement Dinsmore made for Central College Proctor Nelson Barksdale on 20
December. The new chimney for the Doric pavilion, composed of 4,878 bricks, cost a total
of $162.09—$57.11 for 3,807 common bricks, $29.98 for 1,071 oil stock bricks, and $75 for
labor.[146] On Christmas day Jefferson received a letter from Dabney Cosby, a successful
Staunton bricklayer who had followed his calling upwards of twenty years, who offered to
"Put up from 3 to 400,000 this Year And from 6 to 700,000 next Year and as long afterwards
as required . . . in the event I undertake the Clay May be exposed as Much as Possible to the
frost this Winter."[147] Cosby, among others, did land a contract after the state sanctioned the
Central College for its new state university, and in the future chimneys at the site did not
need to be taken down and rebuilt.[148]
More immediate, however, was Jefferson's problem of determining the price to be paid for
the brickwork already completed by Matthew Brown, to be settled according to the price for
similar work in Lynchburg and its neighborhood. As previously noted, Brown and John
Perry had joined forces back in the fall and Brown now left his more astute partner to settle
the payment.[149] Since Jefferson's ill health prevented him from making a winter
pilgrimage to his Bedford estate, he accordingly wrote Radford & Yancey of Lynchburg on
the last day of the year to solicit the firm's help, suggesting that he "always expected" to pay
Brown $13 the thousand—$8 for the bricks and $5 for the labor—and noting that the
"advances of money to him have been ready and liberal, and his full paiment will not be
delayed beyond April or May."[150] No record reply from Radford & Yancey has been
located.
144. Randolph to TJ, 14 December 1818, DLC:TJ. David Meade Randolph, Jr., was married
to Mary (Molly) Mann of Tuckahoe, the sister of Jefferson's son-in-law, Thomas Mann
Randolph, Jr. Jefferson fired Randolph, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a staunch
Federalist, from his position as U.S. Marshal for Virginia four days after his inauguration as
president in 1801, and Randolph subsequently became involved in the James Calander
affair. Bankruptcy soon followed, and in 1808 Molly Randolph opened a successful
boarding house on Cary Street in Richmond. In 1824 Molly Randolph published the first
edition of her popular cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. See Daniels, Randolphs of
Virginia, 130, 149, 193, 196-202, 228, 247-48.
146. James Dinsmore, Chimney Brick Measure, 20 December 1818, ViU:PP. In January
1819 Alexander Garrett wrot Jefferson to inform him that Dinsmore had "heard with regret,
that you were dissatisfied with the contract made with, and beg'd me to assure you, that he
would take no advantage of any mistake you may have made in that contract; that he will be
entirely satisfied to work by the printed prices of the book now sent you, not even insisting
on the correction of those by Latrobe" (Garrett to TJ, 26 January 1819, ViU:TJ).
147. Cosby to TJ, 18 December 1818, ViU:TJ. Cosby came to Charlottesville with excellent
recommendations from some of the leading citizens of Staunton: Erasmus Stribling called
Cosby "one of our most respectable Citizens"; John Waugh expressed confidence in his
honor and integrity; Rockbridge County House of Delegates representative John Bowyer
recommended him in "high terms"; John Brown said he was a good workman and "sober,
attentive, and industrious"; and Judge Archibald Stuart recommended Cosby as "a man of
Industry, Energy & I believe Capacity & may be relyed on to execute whatever he
undertakes . . . for years past been more extensively employed in his line than any man in
This County" (Stribling to TJ, 6 January, John Waugh to TJ, 7 January, Samuel Carr to TJ, 1
February, John Brown to TJ, 8 February, Archibald Stuart to TJ, 9 March 1819, all in
ViU:TJ).
148. Dabney Cosby (1779-1862) was born in Louisa County but moved to Staunton,
Virginia, and by 1820 had married Frances Davenport Tapp; of their fourteen children two
became successful architects. Cosby moved to Buckingham County in 1824 and to Prince
Edward County in 1830, where he remained until 1839 when he moved to Raleigh, North
Carolina, and his work includes Randolph-Macon College (1830), Venable Hall at
Hampden-Sydney College (1830), Tabb Street Presbyterian Church in Petersburg (1844),
the Virginia courthouses of Buckingham, Goochland, Sussex, Lunenburg, and Halifax
counties, and some thirty buildings in the Raleigh area. See Lay, "Charlottesville's
Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:50-51. After working
alone on the brickwork at Hotels D and E and eight west range dormitories, Cosby appears
to have cooperated with William B. Phillips in the brickwork for several of the west range
dormitories (ViU:PP, Ledger 1). Part of the period that Cosby worked at the university is
covered in his daybook, located in ViHi and discussed in Cote, "The Architectural Workmen
of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia," 91-100. Cosby's obituary notice, published in the Raleigh
Semi-Weekly Standard on 12 July 1862, says that Cosby "often spoke of his conversations
with that illustrious man [Jefferson], and the information he received from him in
architecture and the art of making brick."
Year-End Balance Sheet
At the end of the year 1818 the balance sheet for the Central College showed its (projected)
income at $25,229.86 ($3,280.86 from the proceeds of the sale of Albemarle County glebe
lands and $21,949 from the first two installments of private subscriptions). The expenditures
for building added up to only $18,648, however, leaving a projected balance to be spent in
1819 of $6,581.86. The breakdown of expenditures is as follows:[151]
| D | |
| 200. a land purchased from Perry & Garth | 1,540. |
| Proctor 200. D. Overseer 150. D | 350. |
| laborers hire. 8. about | 800. |
| subsistence and miscellaneous expences | 500. |
| Doric Pavilion [87,456 bricks] estimated @ | 3,411. |
| South wing of Dormitories [184,325. br.] | |
| North wing of do. [182,137. br.] estimated @ 13 & xd by 2. | 6,926. |
| Corinthian Pavilion [123,717. br.] suppose @ 13. D | 3,843. |
| 26 x by 3. | 5,121. |
| Balance remaining for 1819. | 6,581.86 |
| 25,229.86 |
The eight laborers mentioned in the year-end account may have included some of the slaves
belonging to Pallison Boxley of Louisa County that Proctor Nelson Barksdale and Ludlow
Branham of Boswell's Tavern gave a $670 security bond for on Tuesday 15 December 1818,
"it being for the hire of Four Negro men two boys and a woman for the next ensuing year
and the Said Negroes to be returned on or before the 25th day of Decmr."[152]
152. Barksdale and Branham, Security Bond, 15 December 1818, ViU:PP. The bond bears a
docket that reads: "Barksdale to Boxley Feb: 12 '20 $670 Bond for the hire of Negroes paid
12th Feby 1820 $670." The bond's verso contains two columns of figures, and Boxley's
signed receipt, which reads: "14th Feby 1820 Recvd the withn of Alexr. Garrett Bursar Uy
by the hands of Barksdale P. Boxley." A related receipt in the loose receipts for 1818 in
ViU:PP reads: "15 Decr. 1818 This day recvd of N Barksdale Proctor to C College &
Ludlow Branham (the sd Barksdle Security) bond for the hire of Seven Negroes to wit 4
Men 2 Boys & a woman to the amt of Six hundred & Seventy dollars which Sd Negroes is
to be delieverd to Sd. N Barksdale at the C College in or about the first day of Jany. 1819 &
to be returned to Sd Boxly without cloathing Pallison Boxley Test Geo Vest John Nunn."
Ludlow Branham purchased Boswell's Tavern in 1801. Located in Louisa County at the
intersection of Routes 15 and 22, Branham's ordinary became a notable county landmark
because such political figures as Jefferson, Madison, and Patrick Henry frequently met there
during the Revolutionary War; the Marquis de Lafayette made his headquarters at Boswell's
Tavern in 1781 (see Chisholm and Lillie, Old Home Places of Louisa County, 180).
|
Chapter 2
The Building Campaign of 1818
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |