Lambeth, William Alexander and Manning, Warren H. . Thomas Jefferson as an Architect and a Designer of Landscapes
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   On the date of the adoption of the plans for the "two
other pavilions" the lawn had not been contracted, for the
resolution says "each pavilion with its twenty dormitories";
but before the second building was laid off in the spring of
1818 he had reduced the lawn to its present size, for this
second building and all subsequent ones were laid out with
ten or less dormitories instead of twenty. Here, then, in the
spring of 1818 occurred his second serious modification.

   These two buildings, making three in all, were well ad-
vanced when on January 25, 1819, the act passed the legis-
lature converting Central College into the University of Vir-
ginia. The first meeting of the Board of Visitors of the new
institution, held March 29, 1819, found Jefferson ready with
plans for two other pavilions and one hotel. It was the location
of this hotel which brought about the third change of plan.



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He had already constructed four buildings on West Lawn,
and, in order to locate the first hotel (which was not located
until April 3, 1820), he was forced to decide whether or not
he should align it with his buildings for instruction or whether
he should establish a new order. He decided on the latter,
and on this date (April 3) we find the first record of a
Western Back Street (now West Range) upon which he
located Hotel "A," the building now used as a physiologi-
cal laboratory. This was more in the nature of growth than
change of plan, for in the beginning his scheme only com-
prehended feeding the mind; now, however, he must attend
to the wants of the body. (See Plates vill, ix.)

   This enlargement of plan from ten to sixteen buildings,
and from two to four parallel ranges of buildings gives him
an opportunity to revert to his original size of space, so that
the entire system of buildings from outside range to outside
range measures seven hundred and seventy-one feet, ex-
actly that which appears on his first draft. This could not
have been an accident, for, as will be observed, his superin-
tendent wanted to change this in order to avoid a deep exca-
vation at hotel "A." Since he was not permitted to make
this change, we can conclude that it is a matter upon which
Jefferson was insistent.

   Having decided upon two double ranges of buildings, he
proceeded to draft his enlarged plan. His first new lay-out



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shows that he intended to have his two outer ranges also
face toward his commons or lawn, for the plan is still in ex-
istence showing by dotted lines how he proposed to treat
the rears of the buildings already constructed in order to
prevent one row of buildings from looking into the back
yards of another. (See Plates viii, ix.) Finding, however,
that the legislature, the source of his funds, was more inter-
ested in getting new buildings erected than in remodelling
old ones, he regarded it as expedient to reverse his plans
for the Western Back Street Range and face them away from
the Lawn Range. Not possessing the luxury of a drafting
department at Monticello, he resorted to the ingenious expe-
diency of cutting out with a penknife the part to be changed
and replacing it in the same drawing with a piece contain-
ing the revision. It is due to this fact that we are enabled to
trace his order of change, for the original plan with the orig-
inal dissected piece and the new piece supplied are still pre-
served. (See Plates viii, ix.)

   This change of plan in point of construction is certain to
have been just at the completion of the first four pavilions
on the West Lawn, and it is located in time by a minute of
the Board April 3, 1820, as follows: --

   Resolved, that [certain funds] be applied to the erection of build-
ings of accommodation on the Western Back Street.




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   Although he does not seem to have announced it, this draw-
ing which he presented to the Board had upon it the plan
of the rotunda. It was, however, standing isolated in the
middle of the north end of the commons or lawn. And at
that time he clearly intended it to be so, for, in giving dis-
tances of the various buildings from this point, he says,
"from a line drawn across the lawn through the middle of
the library," indicating that there was a lawn on each side of the rotunda across which a line drawn through its middle
must pass. The first official mention of the library was in
such words as to leave no doubt but that the Board were
already cognizant of the progress of the plan: --

   Resolved, that it is expedient to proceed with the building of the
library on the plan submitted to the Board, provided the funds of the
University be adequate to the completion of the buildings already
begun (April 2, 1821).

   On October 7, 1822, Jefferson's annual report states that
"ten pavilions with their gardens, six hotels, and 109 dor-
mitories are completed except for some garden walls, a little
plaistering, some of the capitals and part of the grounds."

   On December 23, 1822, he first mentions the rotunda
terraces. He says: --

   An estimate made by the Proctor at an early period supposed that
the last building called for by the report of 1818 and not yet executed



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would cost $46,847.00, but this did not include two considerable
appendages necessary to connect it with the other buildings.

   On October 6, 1823, Jefferson tells us that the walls of
the rotunda are ready for the roof, and that the missing capi-
tals are now in place, that the garden walls are finished, that
the plastering in the pavilions is completed, and that the
lawn is graded. One year later, October 5, 1824, the roof
is on the rotunda!

   From February to October, 1819, must have been a busy
time, for although Jefferson was in his seventy-seventh year
he had in those eight months drawn the plans and written
the specifications for five pavilions and five hotels; this task
out of the way, he during the next year (April 2, 1821)
submitted his completed plans for the rotunda. With the
completion of this building his unified composition was rounded
out, and while he did later furnish plans for an observatory
and an anatomical theatre, they were not undertaken until
after his death and then only partially executed.

   Monticello, while overlooking the University, is on a
mountain four miles away, and, although Mr. Jefferson was
a frequent visitor, he did not come down every day, so that
a running correspondence between himself and his superin-
tendent of construction took the place of many personal in-
terviews. A few scraps of this correspondence have been
preserved.




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   Here is a note in full: --