Historical Narrative

Chapter 7: The Building Campaign of 1823

Passage of the Loan Bill


After the new year the supporters of the university in the General Assembly accelerated their efforts to gain passage of a bill authorizing the university to borrow an additional $60,000 dollars. Jefferson accordingly prepared the visitors for a special meeting in the event the bill passed into law so that the workmen could be engaged "before they undertake other work for the ensuing season." 1 Madison replied a week later that he surely would not fail to join the visitors upon "receiving the expected notice from Mr. Cabell, if the weather & my health will permit: but I am persuaded it will be a supernumerary attendance, if the money be obtained, and the sole question be on its application to the new Edifice." 2 "The object of the meeting," Jefferson told Cabell, "will be to authorise the commencement of the building, and to talk over some ulterior measures, which however cannot be finally concluded till April." 3 Senator Cabell agreed with Madison that the entire board would confirm the loan without hesitancy, 4 and so Jefferson, elated that "the University is advanced to that point, from which it must & will carry itself through; and it will strengthen daily," decided to put off engaging the workmen till the April meeting of the Board of Visitors. 5 In early February, Cabell wrote to inform Jefferson, with "the most heartfelt pleasure . . . that there is now no doubt of the success of our Loan Bill." At the same time it became apparent to Cabell that adding an amendment to release the university from the debts owed to the Literary Fund would only hinder the loan bill, so he wisely left that matter for the next session of the legislature. 6 A week later the senator told Jefferson that "We have done much; but much, very much, remains to be done. In the course of the ensuing year, we must avail ourselves of the press. This Assembly has gone as far as the public mind will now bear. It is necessary to bring up the people to the level of the age." 7

The impact of the loan bill's passage on Jefferson was immediately obvious. "The late good news of a further loan to the University of 60,000$ was recieved with heart felt pleasure by Mr. J.," Alexander Garrett told John Hartwell Cocke. "his manner, conversation, and countenance, all depict the joy of a father on the birth of a first and long-wished for son; the day after recieveing the news he rode to the University (for the first time he had been on horse back since breaking his wrist)[.] I met with him on his return, when he remarked, that he had recieved from Mr. Cabell the welcome news of a further loan to the U. of 60,000$ and he hoped the workmen would prepare immediately for the rotundo; so you see the big house is still his first object." 8 "Mr Jefferson seems in high spirits in consequence of the mony granted by the Asembly," John Neilson told Cocke on 22 February, "he said he should write to the Visitors for them to sanction his measures, and fall to work imediately. I beleive he would be anxious that Dinsmore and my self would undertake the carpenter work but I avoided the subject being resolved to be guided entirely by your judgement. He is full of brickmaking ideas at present, he said they had or would engage Mr Thorn (a brick-layer who came here in partnership with Mr [Richard] Ware) as superintendent of the brick-yard[,] Mr Jefferson being better pleased with the colour of his brick in No 2 and 4 than he is with other that was made here." 9

Workmen Contracted to Build Rotunda

Two days later Jefferson called on his partner on the committee of superintendence "to join me in setting the thing agoing," but Cocke could not leave his plantation, so Jefferson proceeded, "according to the best of my judgment, with the aid of mr Brokenbrough, and with all the caution the case admits." 10 In fact the proctor soon contracted with Abiah B. Thorn and Nathaniel Chamberlain for the brickwork of the library. The proctor agreed to "furnish the bricks, lime, Sand and scaffolding at the expence of the University of Va all of which is to be delivered at convenient distances from the building," and Thorn & Chamberlain agreed "not to put in the wall any samel bricks, nor to use more than one bat to five whole bricks, the bricks to be layed in what is called flemish bond that is header & Strecher alternately, the walls to be solidly grouted from bottom to Top and in every course if deemed necessary by the Proctor with cement of a fourth lime and three fourth good pure sand, for the out side work the mortar to be made of a third lime and two thirds good sharp sand--The out side bricks to be of the best rubed stretchers and equal in quality and regular colour to the fronts of the Pavilions No 2 and 4 the Walls in all cases are to be run perfectly plum and true." Thorn further agreed to "superintend the making and burning the bricks" at the rate of $50 per month. 11 Brockenbrough also contracted with bricklayer William B. Phillips to lay "400,000 hard bricks to be taken from the Kiln." 12

Shortly after Brockenbrough contracted for the Rotunda's brickwork, he met with John Neilson and James Dinsmore, proving correct Neilson's assessment that Jefferson desired to give him and Dinsmore a major portion of the work at the library. Dinsmore & Neilson contracted with the proctor for the carpentry work of the Rotunda at "average" Philadelphia prices, agreeing to make "All the Window frames & sashes, the two principal floors, the out side doors including the outside finishing, the staircases, all the centers for the brick work, the framing of the roof and sheeting, The portico framing and sheeting the Corinthian entablature all round complete--the Base & Cornice of the Attic, the steping on the roof, the wood bricks and bond timbers &c that may be required hereafter for the finishing of the inside work . . . The materials for the above named work to be furnished at the expence of the University." 13 Jefferson was pleased with Brockenbrough's efforts and notified the Board of Visitors of the contracts with the workmen on 12 March, informing the board members that the proctor had engaged the "only two bricklayers and two carpenters capable of executing [the work] with solidity and correctness . . . Thorn & Chamberlain for the brickwork, and Dinsmore & Nelson for the roof and carpenter's work on terms which I think will make our money go the farthest possible, for good work; and his engagement is only for the hull compleat. that done, we can pay for it, see the state of our funds and engage a portion of the inside work so as to stop where our funds may fail, should they fail before it's entire completion. there it may rest ever so long, be used, and not delay the opening of the institution, the work will occupy three years. all this will be more fully explained at our meeting and will I hope recieve your approbation." 14

Dissatisfaction and Threats

Just as the future of the Rotunda finally seemed to begin to shape up an internal threat arose. Senator Cabell, afraid that he might miss the upcoming spring meeting of the Board of Visitors, wrote Jefferson on 24 March to warn him that "it is highly probable that our friend Genl. Cocke may propose at the meeting to adopt a course of proceeding somewhat different from the one you seem to have adopted in regard to the Library. He has written to me, that he should propose, first, to pay off all existing debts, and, then to adapt the plan of the Library to the residue of the funds. Perhaps contracts which you have authorized may divert him from this course." Cabell planned to go to Bremo on the 29th to try to sway Cocke to support the prudent (in Cabell's view) plan of building the library's hull and depend on a later session of the legislature to relieve the institution of the debts it had incurred during the building process. 15 Upon receipt of Cabell's letter Jefferson drafted a "general view of the finances" to show the visitors that the immediate debts of the university ($13,500) did not cut too deeply into the funds made available by the new loan, thanks in part to the annual annuity. 16 At its meeting the Board of Visitors authorized Cabell and Cocke to "settle and repeat to the board" the accounts of both the bursar and proctor, 17 and after the meeting Jefferson prepared a second statement of the finances to reassure Cocke (who missed the meeting) that "the 4. rows & all expences of land Etc. will be compleated without taking a dollar from the last loan, which it is the opinion of mr Br[ockenbrough] Dinsmore Etc. will be quite sufficient to compleat the Rotunda. still we think it prudent to contract only for a part at a time, so as never to go beyond our funds." 18 In the end Cocke was convinced of the propriety of carrying on the work on the Rotunda as originally planned.

At the meeting the Board of Visitors had to deal with one other issue, an anonymous letter sent to House of Delegates Representative Thomas Griffin alleging various "charges of misconduct" against Brockenbrough the university proctor, signed a "Farmer" and in fact written by James Oldham. 19 Oldham drafted the letter back in late January after he and Brockenbrough had a dispute over the use of Mathew Carey's Philadelphia Price Book of 1812 as the standard of settlement for the housejoiner's work on Pavilion I and Hotel A, Oldham claiming that his contract was with Jefferson and not the proctor. 20 The letter made absolutely no impact in Richmond because of the delegates' aversion to the anonymous nature of the attack, 21 and there the matter rested until the visitors' April meeting, when Brockenbrough, whose "feelings have been much wounded by those calumnious charges," asked the board to "do me the justice to make some public declaration" in his favor. 22 The board instructed the executive committee to call on Oldham for evidence to support his charges but by now the two men could not even agree on setting up arbitration about the matter. 23 Oldham in November 1823 filed a lawsuit against the University of Virginia and the case dragged on with both sides exchanging accusations and taking depositions until the Staunton Chancery Court settled it in the early 1830s. 24

Attempts to Alter the Design

The work on the Rotunda began even before the Board of Visitors' meeting of 7 April. "We had a pleasant meeting," Cabell informed General Cocke's wife the next day, "and the Rotunda goes on, and Mr. Jefferson is delighted. The buildings appear more & more beautiful every time I see them." 25 Cabell and fellow visitor and legislator George Loyall met together after the meeting to plot some changes to the "plan & interior distribution of the Library House. The two especially wanted to have at least one of the Rotunda's two large oval rooms "fitted up with seats runing around the rooms parallel to the walls & rising one above another, so that the Lecturer's eye & voice would distinctly reach the eye & ear of every student present." Rather than directly attempting to "interfere too much with Mr. Jefferson's architectural views," the schemers requested James Madison to approach the rector about "this modern plan." 26 Jefferson rejected the plan as unnecessary, pointing out that the rooms in the pavilions were designed to serve as "ordinary lecturing rooms" and that the oval rooms were not designed to accommodate large numbers of students on a regular basis. "no human voice can be habitually exerted to the extent of such an audience," Jefferson asserted. "we cannot expect our Professors to bawl daily to multitudes as our strong orators do once a year. they must break the numbers into two or more parts accomodated to voice and hearing, & repeat the lecture to them separately." 27 Madison noted that plenty of "time & opportunity" remained for readjusting the "manner of finishing the interior of the Rotunda rooms," if need be. 28

Cabell and Loyall were not the only ones trying to alter components of Jefferson's plan for the Rotunda. James Dinsmore consulted Jefferson on 21 April about changing the design of the building's main exterior entablature as well as those for its windows. After carefully examining "all the antient Corinthians in my possession," Jefferson demurred, observing that Palladio, "as usual, has given the finest members of them all in the happiest combination." Palladio also supplied the "handsomest entablatures for windows that I can find any where." 29 Some small necessary alterations during the period were approved, however, in order to adapt the exterior and interior designs to the actual building process and in order to produce effects more pleasing to the eyes. 30 Even as he feverishly worked to finish the architectural drawings for his Academical Village's capstone, Jefferson could soon note with satisfaction that the Rotunda was "rising nobly" from the ground. 31

Carrara Marble Arrives

By Independence Day 1823 word reached Monticello that the Italian marble capitals intended for the pavilions were en route to Richmond from New York, where they had arrived on board the Draco on 10 June. Several of the capitals were "so enormously heavy" that Bernard Peyton, the university's commission agent in Richmond, scarcely knew what to do with them upon their arrival. "They are too heavy to be transported by Drags, from Rocketts to the Basin," he informed the proctor, "& the Locks are not in order to admit the passage of Boats from the Basin to Tide water, & again, I fear they are too heavy for Boats, particularly those of the North river, & when the water is low." 32 Jefferson immediately wrote to Thomas Appleton in Leghorn to apprize him of the impending arrival of the stones at the Albemarle site ("expected to have been here a 12 month sooner") and to notify the consul to expect another order of capitals, for the Rotunda, "for which we shall be ready in 3. months from this time." 33 If Jefferson, now a dozen weeks past his 80th birthday, contemplated the possibility that he might not live to see the capitals for the Rotunda he did not let on to Appleton, who was 20 years to the day his junior. "On observing the coincidence of our birth days I congratulate you on your attainment of your 3. score years on the same day which filled up my 4 score, when however the psalmist tells us that `their strength are but labour and sorrow.' yet my health is so sound that I count on seeing the completion of my university when I shall be ready to `go hence & be no more seen' singing with old Simeon `nunc demittas Domine.'" 34 Nearly two years passed, however, before Appleton could write to say that the last of the marble stones had been shipped from Leghorn for America, 35 and John Gorman set the capitals in place (for $100) only weeks before Jefferson's death in July 1826. 36

It was August before Peyton could engage boats to ship the 18 boxes of marble to Scott's Landing, from which they were carted to the university to "make the final finish of all our buildings of accomodation." 37 On 20 September Brockenbrough reported to Jefferson that the capitals had been set in place without incident but complained that the carvers had compromised the stones' elegance by omitting and failing to complete some of the more delicate details of their designs. 38 "All the Corinthian Capitels want the listel and cavetto which constitutes a part of the Astragal on the top of the shaft of the Column," the proctor fretted. Those omissions complicated the subjoining of the capitals to the brick columns. Additionally, the upper part of the leaves of the Corinthian capitals were not "finished off as it should have been," and the "carving of the bead under the Ovolo" was omitted altogether from the Ionic capitals, detracting from the beauty of both. Despite the departure from Palladio's designs and the inferior workmanship, Jefferson told Thomas Appleton that the capitals were "well approved on the whole." 39

In mid-July, with the columns of the buildings of accommodation still gaping for their capitals, Jefferson wrote to John Trumbull concerning engravings of the painter's Declaration of Independence and Resignation of General Washington --a copy of the first one intended for his old friend at Montpelier. "Independant of the motives of friendship to which we shall owe your kind visit," wrote the octogenarian as he invited the celebrated artist to Monticello, "I can promise you a gratification well worth the trouble of your journey, in a visit to our University. I can assure you that, as a specimen of architecture strictly classical, you will find it unrivalled in this country, and possessing the merit of pure originality in the design. it is by such as yourself therefore that I wish it to be seen and judged. the building however which is to be it's greatest ornament, and in fact the key-stone which is to give Unity to all that is already done, will only have it's walls compleated the present year, and will not recieve it's roof until the next: but this your experienced eye will supply. it's Perspective would furnish a subject worthy of your pencil and of the burin of Mr. Durand. it would be a very popular print." Asher B. Durand, whose engraving of Trumbull's Declaration of Independence made the engraver's reputation (and proved a financial disaster for the painter), never produced an engraving of the university although he later made one of Monticello. 40

Illness of Jefferson

The old sage of Monticello, who had recently bragged to Consul Appleton of his sound health, actually was so desperately ill that by late July he could not even write a note to Brockenbrough to request a meeting at Monticello on university business. 41 Senator Cabell, hearing at home in Nelson County that "Jefferson's health is so feeble," felt concerned at having troubled Jefferson with letters about the new jail planned for Nelson County. 42 Brockenbrough sent a short note to Cabell to update him of Jefferson's condition on 27 July, writing that "he was something better than he had been," and adding that the "Rotunda progresses well The walls are partly up to the upper floor." 43 It was nearly mid-August before Jefferson ventured writing again, 44 and by the third week of August joiner John Neilson could report to General Cocke from the university that "the work of the Pantheon goes on rapidly. Mr Jefferson is got well he was here yesterday." 45 When he paid that visit to the site, Jefferson informed E. S. Davis of Abbeville, South Carolina, the library's walls had risen to two-thirds of "their intended height, and thus will attain their full height in the course of another month. but the roof being weighty & from it's spherical form pressing outwardly in every direction we shall not venture it on our walls while green. it will not be put on therefore till the next summer, and the interior will require perhaps still another year." 46 On 8 September Jefferson invited his old friend William Short, who was returning from a lengthy tour of Canada to Philadelphia, to spend the next spring season in Albemarle County, when "we shall then have more for you to see and approve. by that time our Rotunda (the walls of which will be finished this month) will have recieved it's roof, and will shew itself externally to some advantage. It's columns only will be wanting, as they must await their Capitels from Italy." Furthermore, Jefferson challenged his old friend, "in your substitution of Monticello instead of your annual visit to Black rock, I will engage you equal health, and a more genial and pleasant climate. but instead of the flitting, flurting and gay assemblage of that place, you must be contented with plain and sober family and neighborly society." 47

At the Board of Visitors' annual fall meeting on Monday 6 October 1823 the board only needed to decide on a couple of matters, besides drafting its annual report to the president and directors of the Literary Fund. 48 The visitors ratified a contract that the proctor entered into in September with stonecarver Giacomo Raggi for furnishing the 10 bases and 2 half-bases of the columns for the Rotunda out of Carrara marble (at $65 each whole base) and recommended to the executive committee that it also procure the capitals for the building from Carrara, "if practicable on terms not higher than those offered by Thomas Appleton." 49 The visitors also directed the committee to look into the feasibility of arranging to have the marble paving squares for the Rotunda's portico made in Italy as well. When writing to inquire about the 1,400 one-foot squares a couple days after the meeting, Jefferson also asked Appleton to provide an estimate for the cost of carving from wood the 40 Palladian Composite capitals intended for the dome room of the Rotunda's interior. 50 Appleton replied in February 1824 that the "polish'd and accurately Squar'd, ready to be laid Down" squares would cost $22.50 the hundred in Leghorn but tried to convince Jefferson to carve the interior Composite capitals out of marble, citing a price of $100 each. 51 Jefferson ordered the squares in May 1824 but sought the interior capitals elsewhere. 52

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