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Chapter 5
The Building Campaign of 1820
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
The Work Continues
Back at the construction site, John Neilson "brought up some workmen" to begin his part of
the joinery work on Pavilion V in mid-February while George W. Spooner, Jr., continued to
work on the same building.[376] Ware and his Philadelphia workmen presumably were
weathering the cold as best they could, working outside on the east lawn when possible, for
Ambrose Flanagan delivered the Philadelphians $106.57 worth of plank on 10 February.[377]
Oldham, Dinsmore, and Perry still had interior work to shield them from the weather. For
instance, the Corinthian pavilion reserved for Thomas Cooper on the west lawn (number III)
was ready for the plasterer in early March 1820.[378] The walls and ceilings had to be
plastered before the doors and windows could be hung, which the housejoiner assured
Jefferson could be done in a fortnight, and then the whole interior had to be painted.
Jefferson optimistically predicted that the building would be ready for occupancy by the first
of May, although he calculated another month might be necessary so that "the plaistering
may become drier, as to allow for little miscalculations of workmen."[379] In mid-March,
James Glasgow and Joseph Antrim sent in separate proposals for plasterwork. Glasgow
offered "to Do all the Plastering Ruff Casting & Stuco Work that may be Wanting to be
Done,"[380] and both men referenced the price book of the Master Plasterers Company of
Philadelphia's and agreed to let the work be measured by the Philadelphia mode of
measurement. Brockenbrough signed a contract with Antrim on 22 March,[381] and in
mid-May John H. Craven delivered Antrim 1,625 pounds of hay to mix with the plaster and
some plank for his work on the pavilion.[382]
As for painting, John Bevan of "Kilmarnock Lancaster county" "assumed the liberty of
soliciting work" in that line of business from Jefferson back in September 1819, but his
proposal apparently came too early to be given serious consideration.[383] Benjamin Collins
of Philadelphia in December 1819 sent in a bid offering to glaze the window sashes and do
plain painting by the yard.[384] Collins and the proctor apparently worked out some kind of
agreement in which Collins would supply glass and the paint supplies and Englishman John
Vowles (who was later the principal painter and glazer at the Rotunda and the Anatomical
Hall) would actually oversee its application at the university, although Vowles at about this
time submitted his own bid, for plain and "Mahogany, or any kind of Fancy Work,"
addressed to "Mr. John Carr proctor U. Va."[385] Collins later sold the contract to Edward
Lowber of Philadelphia, the actual supplier of the materials, although Lowber quickly came
to regret making the bargain.[386] In any event, painters were active on the site by the
beginning of May when the proctor procured a pint of oil from them for Jefferson, possibly
to use in making the hotel drawings he was then engaged in.[387]
377. Ware to Brockenbrough, 10 February 1820, ViU:PP. The Philadelphian's work began to
pick up in late March (see Richard Ware's Account with the University of Virginia, 30
March 1820 to 19 September 1821, in ViU:PP).
378. TJ had written to Cooper on 19 November 1819 to inform him that the "Pavilion
intended for you (far the best of the whole) is so far advanced in it's interior work as to be
certainly finished in the course of the winter. the garden however is not inclosed, and as it is
to be done with brick, there may be a doubt whether the season is not too far advanced to
risk it. . . . the Pavilion, besides a large lecturing room, has 4. good rooms for family
accomodation. one of them below, large enough for your study & library; a drawing room &
2 bedrooms above. kitchen & servant's rooms below. the adjacent dormitories (14. f. square)
can be used for your apparatus & laboratory" (ViU:TJ).
379. TJ to John Vaughan, 8 March 1820, PPAmP:Maderia-Vaughan Collection. TJ also
wrote to Cooper on the same day: "Your pavilion is finished except plaistering and painting.
the former will require all this month, from the variableness of the season. the housejoiner
asks a fortnight after removal of the rubbish of the plaisterer to hang his doors and windows,
which are ready, & the glazing also done the painting will then take a fortnight, so that we
believe of a certainty all will be ready by the 1st. day of May" (ViU:TJ).
381. Joseph Antrim, Proposal for Plastering, 20 March, and Contract for Plastering, 22
March 1820, ViU:PP. James Glasgow eventually worked at the university too.
382. See Antrim to Brockenbrough, 14 May, and Loose Receipt, 12 May 1820, in ViU:PP.
The materials cost $17.46.
385. Vowles to Carr, April 1820, ViU:PP. Some of the university's merchants also supplied
paint (see John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 26 October 1820, in ViU:PP, for
instance). John Vowles (d. 1871), the brother-in-law of brickmason William B. Phillips' wife
Barbara O. Pendleton, built a town house on one of the lots to the east of the university on
the Three Notch'd Road that he purchased from James Dinsmore in 1823; the townhouse, on
the corner of modern West Main and 12th streets, still stands and Vowles and the Phillips are
buried in Charlottesville's Maplewood Cemetery (see Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural
Legacy," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:33, 34, 49, 57). Vowles received
$999.36 for his work at the Rotunda and $253.35 at the Anatomical Hall (ViU:PP, Ledger
2).
386. Lowber, who also supplied some glass for the university, initially was content with the
arrangement. See Lowber to Brockenbrough, 8 June, 4 November 1820. Lowber received,
for instance, $409.82 for furnishing the glass, glazing, paint, and two coats of paint for
Pavilion IX, and $428.80 for Pavilion X (ViU:PP, Ledgers 1 and 2; see also Lay,
"Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:51).
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Chapter 5
The Building Campaign of 1820
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |