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Chapter 4
The Building Campaign of 1819, Part 2
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Carter & Phillips
By about mid-summer Curtis Carter and William B. Phillips were well on their way to
fulfilling the brickwork contract that obligated them to make and lay 300,000 bricks before
the first of November. On 20 August Phillips wrote to the proctor to let him know that his
men had put up the walls of the first story of Pavilion I "& shall finish the dormantarys walls
tomorow," after which the "[1]st. tier of Sleepers" could be laid. Furthermore, he estimated
they would finish in 12 or 13 days "with all ease." "Please inform me which will be my next
Job," Phillips said, "so as an arrangement may be maid for me to begin, If I should wait for
work haveing all my hands together at Considerable expence, it will be A ruining Stroke if
we are not Keeped imployed."[348] A week later John Hartwell Cocke, Jr., (who attended
grammar school in the area) visited the brickyard to watch the artisans at work. The dispatch
with which the men carried on their work and which allowed them to finish ahead of
schedule is evident in the description the young boy sent to his father:
brickmaking you must excuse me for not giving you as satisfactory a discription
of it, as I otherwise would have done.—The yard is laid off in a more regular
manner than I ever saw one, and every thing seem to go on with perfect order.
They do not make up their mortar as we do with Oxen but with a spade, and
make it in large piles and cover it with planks a day before they use it, the hole
is near a branch and they always have a good deal of water in it. they have the
table near the place, that they lay down the bricks and move it as they lay them
down, and the mud is rolled to it. I have not yet Seen them moulding brick as I
went there just as they began to Kiln they hack all the bricks in single hacks and
under a large shelter which is erected for the perpose, which efectually keeps
off the sun and rain. the kiln which I saw, was lined with a stone wall about a
foot thick, about half way and the other part with brickbats:—they have got up
the third pavilion as far as the first story, and have finished the brick-work of the
dormitories between that and the Corinthian building.[349]
$247.50) at their kiln so that their gang could burn clinkers in expectation of finishing their
project.[350]
348. William B. Phillips to Brockenbrough, 20 August 1819, ViU:PP. George W. Spooner,
Jr., reiterated Phillips' uneasiness that his men might become idle in a letter to
Brockenbrough of the same date, located in ViU:PP.
349. John Hartwell Cocke, Jr., to John Hartwell Cocke, 27 August 1819, ViU:JHC. On 25
September the younger Cocke wrote his father again, informing him that "I have not been
able to go up to the University since I recieved your last Cas the weather has been very bad
ever since and therefore I can't answer you's with respect to the things which I omitted
before" (ViU:JHC).
350. Phillips & Carter, Account with Alexander Garrett, 28 August to 22 September, and
Phillips to Brockenbrough, 8 September, 1819. Alexander Garrett delivered 67 cords of
firewood to the kiln at cost of $167.50 for the wood plus $30 for 6 days wagonage, and John
Bishop delivered 20 cords to the kiln for $50. The following explanation of clinkers and
their importance in bricklaying cannot be improved upon: "Generally a number of bricks in
the kiln or clamp are overburned or partly vitrified--this to such an extent sometimes that
partial fusion causes two or more bricks to run together, forming one mass more or less solid
throughout. Overburned bricks are know as 'burrs' or clinkers. The latter name is probably
derived from the quality imparted by vitrifaction, which causes them to give a clinking
sound when struck. Or the name may have been taken from the vitrified masses of coal, the
product of furnaces in which great heat is sustained, and which are distinquished from the
ordinary cinders by the name of 'clinkers.' The first name, 'burrs,' may have some reference
to the fact that the bricks have been over-burned" (The Stonemason and the Bricklayer,
202).
A cord measures 4 x 4 x 8 feet.
|
Chapter 4
The Building Campaign of 1819, Part 2
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |