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Chapter 3
The Building Campaign of 1819, Part 1
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Jefferson's Design Approved
At their meeting the visitors resolved to carry out the plans for the buildings along the lines
that Jefferson indicated to Cabell a week earlier. They unanimously agreed that "the urgency
of the advancing season, and the importance of procuring workmen before they become
generally otherwise engaged for the season, render . . . that certain measures be forthwith
taken."[174] "Certain measures" meant immediately advertising for workmen for the
university and awarding contracts, a process which Jefferson started on 1 March.[175] After
voting on Jefferson's initial goals for the buildings, the visitors supplemented their ruling by
adding that "we approve of the propositions for covering with tin sheets the Pavilions and
Hotels hereafter to be covered, and for bringing water to them by wooden pipes from the
neighboring highlands." Also, the board appointed Alexander Garrett, treasurer of the
Central College, to become Bursar of the University "until otherwise provided," and so that
he could "meet the immediate and pressing calls for money," it authorized Garrett to receive
the $15,000 public endowment for 1819.[176]
174. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 26 February 1819, ViU:TJ; see
also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 451-52.
175. See Nelson Barksdale, Advertisement for Workmen, ca 1 March 1819, in James
Oldham's "Memoriall to the bord of Visitors of the U.Va. Octobr 3. 1823," ViU:PP. For
instance, Jefferson sent a copy of the advertisement to Thomas Cooper on 3 March with
instructions for Cooper to place it in the Philadelphia paper "most read by the mechanics."
In the postscript Jefferson requested Cooper to inquire into open stoves for the pavilions: "I
believe they are called Rittenhouse stoves in Philadelphia. the largest for their larger rooms
should be about 26. I. wide in the back, and a smaller size for the bedrooms. will you be so
good as to select two of the handsomest forms, and desire the holder of them to mark them
for us? we shall apply for 5. as immediately wanting, for half a dozen more towards the end
of the year, & others subsequently as we advance in our buildings. I know there is a good
deal of choice in forms, and wish to avail of your presence there to select" (ViU:TJ). Cooper
succeeded in finding suitable stoves, and the university sent Louis Leschot to Philadelphia to
arrange their shipment to Bernard Peyton in Richmond. See TJ to Cooper, 9 April, and
Cooper to TJ, 11, 15, 22 April, 21 June, James Dinsmore to TJ, 1 July, Dinsmore to
Brockenbrough, 2 July, and List of Items Lacking Vouchers, 9 April 1819, all in ViU:PP.
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Chapter 3
The Building Campaign of 1819, Part 1
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |