Chapter 5
The Building Campaign of 1820

For if the plan and the general order were good, the execution of the details was no less admirable.

—Lewis Mumford⁽³⁶⁷⁾

Bitter Weather

Despite Jefferson's hyperbole about Virginia's "genial climate," the new year opened with a bitter arctic blast. "On the morning of the 1st Jany (Saturday last) the Thermometer hung out in the open air, stood at 9 below Zero, a little before Sunrise—At 9. oclock being removed into the passage where it usually hangs, it stood at 2 degrees below 0 after breakfast, 1 degree above 0 . . . Ice 7 Inches thick on the River."⁽³⁶⁸⁾ These winter conditions brought work on the buildings at the university to a near standstill. Huddled by the Monticello fireplaces trying to keep warm, Jefferson's concern during the month was focused more on raising the money necessary to continue construction and "relieve the actual distresses of our workmen" than on the progress those workmen were making. Private subscriptions came in "slow & grudgingly" when at all, Jefferson complained to state Senator Joseph Carrington Cabell.⁽³⁶⁹⁾ He directed Alexander Garrett to draw $13,000 to distribute "among the claiments," whose demands, the bursar informed Jefferson's partner on the committee of superintendence, "already exceeds the second annual donation by the state."⁽³⁷⁰⁾

Land Deed

Before he left for Richmond to secure the funds, Garrett found the time to draw up a land deed for a forty-eight and three quarter acres tract of land, surveyed by Albemarle County Surveyor William Woods, that John M. and Frances T. Perry were selling to the university for $7,231.80. Bordered in part by the Wheelers and Three Notch'd roads and adjacent to the forty-three and three quarter acres parcel that the Perrys had sold to the Central College, the second tract greatly increased the holdings of the university but its purchase contributed to the severe financial drain faced by the institution. Upon his return from Richmond, Garrett made an estimate of the university's financial situation, based on figures provided by the proctor, and concluded that an additional $97,098.25 was needed to complete the university—$38,898.25 to finish the buildings already commenced, and $58,200.00 to erect the buildings not yet started. Some $80,000 of that amount still was wanting, and the private subscribers to the Central College were expected to provide a maximum of only $8,800.02.⁽³⁷¹⁾ In order to counter "the deplorable state of our funds," which also included approximately $15,000 in debts owed to university contractors, an appeal was maded to Senator Cabell to raise the money in the Virginia General Assembly so that the undertakers would not have to discharge their journeymen for the lack of funds to pay them.⁽³⁷²⁾

Financial Woes

While Jefferson awaited the result of Cabell's efforts from his mansion outside Charlottesville, he expressed his uneasiness about the state of affairs to Madison. "The finances of the University are in a most painful state," he wrote. "the donation of 1820. is recieved & paid away, and we still owe 15,000 for work already done."⁽³⁷³⁾ Meanwhile, the best Cabell could do was to win support for a bill authorizing the university to borrow money to finish its buildings. The recent embezzlement by the state treasurer of $120,000 ruled out an outright gift of $80,000.⁽³⁷⁴⁾ Jefferson, nevertheless, was relieved when Cabell wrote to inform him of the passage of a compromise bill on 24 February granting the institution power to borrow $60,000 against the credit of its own funds, adding that the "University is popular in the Senate, and unpopular in the House of Delegates" (see appendix H).⁽³⁷⁵⁾

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⁾

The Visitors Meet

When the spring meeting of the Board of Visitors rolled around, the board spent its time discussing the pending loan from the Literary Fund, and the only action it took regarding construction of the buildings was to vote to apply the monies from the loan to the debts owed the workmen, and to direct any balance "towards the erection of buildings of accommodation on the eastern back street."⁽³⁸⁸⁾ On the day of the visitors' session at the university, Robert McCullock, who with his brother James operated one of more than three dozen sawmills in Albemarle County's Fredericksville Parish, delivered 3,286 feet of lumber to James Oldham (receiving $57.56 for his compensation), indicating at least some small life at the site.⁽³⁸⁹⁾ After the members separated, Jefferson directed the proctor to make an estimate "of the whole expence of compleating such buildings, distinguishing the expence of each," to be enclosed later in the fall report to the president and directors of the Literary Fund. Brockenbrough estimated that $10,000 was needed immediately to pay the institution's debts and another $18,000 was needed to complete the 7 pavilions and 31 dormitories in progress. To "compleat the Area," meaning the upper square, or lawn, the final 3 pavilions would require $18,000 and the 24 dormitories, $9,600. For the "East back street," to be commenced in the current year, Brockenbrough estimated 3 hotels could be built for $9,000 and 25 dormitories for an additional $10,000. That meant $74,600 was wanting to bring the accounts to date and to carry on the work projected for 1820. All that would remain after that was "2. Hotels & Proctor's house & 25. dormits. compleatg. W. back street" that were expected to be started in 1821 at a projected cost of $19,000.⁽³⁹⁰⁾ The $93,600 total, not far off from the bursar's February estimate, would "accomplish the buildings of the whole establishment (the Library excepted)" by the end of 1821.⁽³⁹¹⁾

Spring Brings New Life

About a month following the visitors' meeting the construction at the university site was once again being carried on at a respectable speed. The proctor pressed his architect to send the hotel plans down from the mountaintop so that the carpenters could ascertain the size and amount of timber that needed to be cut. He had decided to assign Hotel A to James Oldham, whom he thought could better manage the large flat roof that was planned for the building. Spooner and Perry would receive the smaller hotels. The layout of the buildings on the west range apparently had not been finalized, at least not in Brockenbrough's thinking, for he informed Jefferson that "Hotel A if placed in a line with the North flank wall of Pav: No 1. will have no dormitory attached to it as there is only 56 feet from the north flank to the alley or cross street runing up to the back of the dormitories." To solve this difficulty the rector was requested to visit the site before Brockenbrough set the laborers to digging the foundations of the hotels. "I find if we cut in the bank the depth of Hotel A we shall have a bank 7 feet high & then the cellar to dig out in order to save some labor I propose advancing the buildings a few feet in the street & then throwing the street more to the East."⁽³⁹²⁾

Also in May, Brockenbrough attempted to revitalize efforts at the university to push forward the stonework. He sought to hire a stonecutter, "by the day or piece work," who just finished carving for General Cocke at Upper Bremo. He could pay for "plain work 25 cents pr Superficial foot & 50 pr foot straight moulded work, & 75 cents for circular Moulded do pr foot superficial," or $1.50 a day.⁽³⁹³⁾ Luther M. George sent up "Som cut Stone" from Milton, apparently shipped from Richmond by Thomas B. Conway, along with the word that "a very Large one hear" weighing at least 2,800 pounds could be wagoned up when wanted.⁽³⁹⁴⁾ A few days later George sent word that his "Boatman Elijah has brough[t] up an other of them Large Rock and have Sent it on by a waggoner."⁽³⁹⁵⁾ (Elijah, who apparently was George's slave, later worked for the university 41 days straight "inclusive easter Monday & 2 other lost days deducted.")⁽³⁹⁶⁾ Destined to become an Ionic cap, the 2,149 pound stone at Lewis Ferry cost the university $12 by the time it reached the construction site. John H. Wood charged the university $13.14 for boating 3 small "ones of wrought stone" to be used for bases and caps and one 2,389 pound rock from Richmond to Milton at the end of the month.⁽³⁹⁷⁾ In early June the proctor tried to talk Jefferson into buying marble from Pennsylvania after Giacomo Raggi, who "complains much of this stone," returned from Philadelphia with a sample more to his liking.⁽³⁹⁸⁾ Jefferson would hear nothing of the proposal, although in July he finally conceded that something must be done. He wrote Consul Thomas Appleton in Leghorn to ask how much it would cost, "considering the low price of labor, and of the material with you," to get the Corinthian capitals ready made from Carrara.⁽³⁹⁹⁾ It was February 1821 before Jefferson received Appleton's reply, and only then did he discover that he had omitted to give Appleton the number of capitals he wanted carved!⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

Jefferson visited the university on Tuesday, 6 June, but Brockenbrough, unfortunately "out of place," was not able to get the rector's opinion on several important points immediately at hand. One of the questions he wanted to ask, whether to place the "ornaments for the metops layed down by Nicholson" in the "Frize of Pavilion No 2 E. Range," gives some indication of Richard Ware's progress on that building.⁽⁴⁰¹⁾ The substitution of tin gutters for wooden ones and the ordering of marble from Philadelphia both have been discussed previously, as has the progress of the pipe borers in laying down waterpipes. Jefferson's answers to the proctor's inquiries about substituting 10 x 12 glass for 12 x 12 in the hotel windows in order to save money and whether the cornice and entablature of the pavilions would look better a stone color rather than perfectly white have not survived but can be easily surmised. The question of building a small house for each of the Italian stonecutters' wives worked itself out when the women decided not to leave their native homes. Finally, the proctor had concluded brickwork agreements for the new buildings at $10 per thousand for "common & peace bricks" and $16 for the "front or rubed stretchers." Curtis Carter contracted for Pavilion VI and Hotel A; John Perry and Abiah Thorn for Pavilion VIII and Hotel B; William B. Phillips for Pavilion X and Hotel C; and the "dormitories divided amongst them."⁽⁴⁰²⁾ By the end of June John Neilson could report that the "brick-layers have begun their seasons work and all seems getting forward."⁽⁴⁰³⁾

Over the course of the late spring and summer the university's suppliers continued to provide various kinds of materials to the construction site. James Leitch's account for the period shows that while the merchant continued to sell nails, he also became the institution's main whiskey and Jamaica rum dealer.⁽⁴⁰⁴⁾ The firm of Brockenbrough & Harvie helped out its Richmond competitor, John Van Lew & Co., by taking over some of its accounts with the university for the glass, tin, hardware, etc. that the latter had sold to the university between August 1819 and mid-May 1820.⁽⁴⁰⁵⁾ John Van Lew & Co., experiencing difficulties in procuring boats, began to ship its tin, iron, herring, and assortment of hardware exclusively by wagons; James Stone, Andrew Jamison, Hembro Pendleton, and Thomas Jackson all drove wagons to the university during the spring and summer.⁽⁴⁰⁶⁾ Thomas Perkins of Boston, in response to a request from the university, sent Brockenbrough a quote for Boston Crown Glass from the agents of the Boston Glass Manufactory, Pearson & Cloutman.⁽⁴⁰⁷⁾ In June William Bowen delivered 6,500 wooden shingles to James Oldham, at a cost of $58.50.⁽⁴⁰⁸⁾

Jefferson Enthusiastic

On the day before Jefferson wrote to the president and directors of the Literary Fund to request authorization to draw the remaining third of its $60,000 loan from the fund he wrote a long personal letter to his son-in-law, John Wayles Eppes of Mill Brook, who had retired from Congress a year earlier because of declining health.⁽⁴⁰⁹⁾ In addition to describing the general scheme and progress of the university to Eppes, Jefferson invited his ailing son-in-law to bring his family for a visit to Monticello and the institution's site.

is it impossible that mrs [Mary Jefferson] Eppes yourself and family should pay a visit to Monticello where we could not be made happier than by seeing you. it is little over a day's journey whether by New Canton or Buckingham C. H. the former being the best road. and our University is now so far advanced as to be worth seeing. it exhibits already the appearance of a beautiful Academical village, of the finest models of building and of classical architecture, in the US. it begins to be much visited by strangers and admired by all, for the beauty, originality and convenience of the plan. by autumn 3 ranges of buildings will be erected 600. f. long, with colonnades and arcades of the same length in front for communication below, and terraces of the same extent for communication above: and, by the fall of the next year, a 4th. range will be done, which compleats the whole (the Library excepted) and will for an establishment of 10. Pavilions for professors, 6. hotels or boarding houses, and 100. Dormitories. these will have cost in the whole about 130,000 D. there will remain then nothing to be added at present but a building for the Library of about 40,000. D. cost. all this is surely worth a journey of 50. miles, and requires no effort but to think you can do it, and it is done."⁽⁴¹⁰⁾

When writing to the sovereigns of Montpelier and Braintree two weeks later, Jefferson echoed his enthusiasm for the progress taking place at the village that is so obvious in his letter to Eppes, and unlike his constant complaints of a year previous. "Our buildings at the University go on so rapidly and will exhibit such a state and prospect by the meeting of the legislature," he hopefully suggested to Madison, "that no one seems to think it possible they should fail to enable us to open the institution the ensuing year."⁽⁴¹¹⁾ And to his former political rival he wrote, "our university, 4. miles distant, gives me frequent exercise, and the oftener as I direct it's architecture. it's plan is unique, and it is becoming an object of curiosity for the traveller."⁽⁴¹²⁾

Coffee in New York

As the end of the summer of 1820 neared, the English ornamental sculptor William John Coffee wrote to Jefferson two times, first to give him the result of his inquiry into the cost of fire engines and next to update him on the frieze ornaments he promised to make for Poplar Forest and the university. Coffee visited Albemarle County earlier in the year and arrived back at New York on 18 July, he said, "much fatigued with a Journey of 1,203 miles by Land, that is from Monticello to Canada & from Canada to N. York Via—Albany." Once in New York City, Coffee visited No. 293 Pearl Street, the home of Able W. Hardenbrook, a maker of "fire Engins." Hardenbrook's prices per foot "For Hose or Leaders as they are Called her[e]" were "$1—that is 8 Shillings this City money" for 3½ inches diameter, 50 cents for ½ inch, and $3 for "the Suckers or Suction Pipes." New York City fire engines used 3 to 400 feet of hose, Hardenbrook told Coffee, but the common length of leaders was about 100 feet.⁽⁴¹³⁾ Coffee wrote again a week later from Newark, New Jersey, to inform Jefferson that the ornaments for "Bedford House" and "The University" were in "great fordwardness," claiming that "no time has been Lost Sines I have been at home or have I applyed a Single hour to any other Employment so very Laboreous & difficult has been this undertaking." The shipment of the ornaments to Virginia, however, would depend on the "unfortunate State" of New York City, which had become, according to Coffee, so dangerous to the health and life of its inhabitants that it was draining off "all that Can any way Convenintly leave Such a Smite of disease and Corruption, I need not say to you that it will Continue its Scourgeing March ontill the first part of november at which time we are Visited by the Healthy nor'west winds and a Black frost. So much do I dislike this Stinking Pestilential City, and so dread the prevailing fever that I thought it Proper to leave The City for this little Town." Coffee also added that he had waited upon Peter Maverick (who worked in Newark) and "gave him your Drawing," and he "Promised to Send you a Proofe Plate I hope by this time he has don So."⁽⁴¹⁴⁾ This was the first step in the production of the famed Maverick group of engravings, the first printed ground plan of the Academical Village (see appendix O).⁽⁴¹⁵⁾

Italian Artisan Disgruntled

While the sculptor in plaster and terra cotta was molding ornaments for frieze work and running errands in the New York City area, his friend at Monticello was engaged in a minor "difficulty" with one of the Italian sculptors. Attention has been called already to the Raggi brothers' dissatisfaction with the Virginia stone. Back in October 1819 the "Senior [Giamoco] Raggi" communicated the stonecutters' willingness to dissolve their contract with the university, but the offer was ignored and the stonework commenced, albeit slowly, for the next ten months.⁽⁴¹⁶⁾ At the beginning of September Michele Raggi renewed his offer to void his current agreement with the university, this time presenting three new options, that of carving the Corinthian capitals in Carrara marble at the European quarry under contract at a "most desirable price"; carving the capitals at Carrara "as if under your eyes for just the wages which we have now"; and lastly, because he could "no longer work with these stones since they are thereby prejudicing [my] health," the university could import stone from Philadelphia or Italy, and meanwhile he would renew his contract for five years and travel to Europe at his own expense to get his wife.⁽⁴¹⁷⁾ The younger Raggi, desperate to see his new bride and the child that had been born to them since he left Italy, recently had sprained his wrist while working on the lesser quality stone so that he could not "work this month or two, in this state of body, and homesick, & love-sick mind, he will be of no use to us." Thinking that Consul Thomas Appleton in Leghorn could arrange to furnish capitals cheaper, Jefferson, in agreement with his partner on the committee of superintendence, made a counter proposal to the stonecutter.⁽⁴¹⁸⁾ The university would release Raggi with "wages to the day of discontinuing" only, and the Italian would pay the expenses of his journey and voyage back to his homeland. The committee considered this a fair compromise because the university had received only about one-half of the time for work agreed to, although it had paid for the cutter's voyage to America.⁽⁴¹⁹⁾

Michele Raggi chose to sever his ties to the university on 9 September according to the terms offered him by the committee of superintendence but apparently had second thoughts about it after arriving in Washington, for on 26 September he wrote Jefferson a scathing letter outlining his grievances.

Being unable any longer to stand the bad food which your Director of the College was sending me, and seeing that you were not putting yourself to any haste to procure the marble blocks so that I might finish the time of my contract as I would have done if this stone of yours had not ruined my stomach along with the sheep which the said Director sent me to eat, for the mere sight of the said food turned my stomach. You know well that my contract said I was to be lodged and nourished according to my profession, nor are you ignorant how Artists are treated in Italy and France! Propriety, duty, and justice demand that I be satisfied at least as to my trip since you have not gotten for me the material to work with not having the means to give me the marble blocks as explained.⁽⁴²⁰⁾

Raggi then appealed for $300 dollars to cover his voyage "back to the bosom of my family from which you took me" and told Jefferson that the ex-president's "reputation alone brought me to America, and that it has ruined my expectations and my health, and that I am going home with one arm perhaps useless to earn my bread." Disappointed that the university did not commission him to carve the Corinthian capitals at Carrara, he offered to execute the works out of Washington stone for $1,000 a year, the "least salary that the lowest of countrymen has, and which I think I, too, deserve." He concluded by begging Jefferson "not to throw me in the middle of a street" and closed by adding a postscript to direct the money to the care of "the Widow Franzoni" requesting Jefferson to "answer me in French."⁽⁴²¹⁾

Jefferson responded to Raggi's complaints and accusations with a lengthy remonstrance that placed blame squarely upon the young artisan's shoulders. Jefferson first narrated the history and terms of the contract made in Leghorn with Appleton on behalf of the university and reminded Raggi of the $200 advance to cover his "expences by sea and land to this place" and of another $200 that was sent later to Leghorn to enable his wife to come to America.

[She] declined coming. yourself became uneasy & desponding, declared you could not continue here according to your contract, without your wife, and solicited to be discharged from your obligation. in pure commiseration of your feelings, it was yielded to, & the Proctor was instructed to arrange with you the conditions of dissolving the contract and to settle and pay whatever was you due. one half of your term having now elapsed, it was agreed that the expences of your coming and wages to that date should be at our charge, but that those for your return should be your own, as the retirement from the fulfilment of your engagements for the latter half of your term, was you own act, and not our wish.

The last remark seems a little disingenuous considering that Jefferson expected the sculptor to remain unemployed for another two months because of his wrist injury and when it is recalled that Jefferson already had written Thomas Appleton on 13 July requesting the consul to inquire into the cost of carving the capitals at Carrara and crating them for shipment across the Atlantic. Jefferson then recounted the settlement between Raggi and the proctor, noting that exclusive of board and lodging the university had spent $919.68 for Raggi's traveling and wages over a 15-month period and "for this you know, we have nothing to shew but a single Ionic capitel, and an unfinished Corinthian." Although the "misfortune was ours, and was increased by that of the sprain of your wrist disabling you from work," Jefferson said, the university gave up the remaining portion of an agreement that "might have lessened our loss, merely to indulge the feelings and uneasiness under which we saw you." Raggi's complaints about his lodging and diet and his insinuation that Jefferson and Brockenbrough were personally responsible for his misery incensed Jefferson the most, however:

As to your lodging, it was in as decent and comfortable a room as I would wish to lodge in my self. so far I have spoken of my own knolege.

the subject of diet, I learn from others that, in the beginning, it was furnished you from a French boarding house of your own choice. from this you withdrew, of your own choice also, and boarded with the Proctor himself, sharing the same fare with himself, which was that of the respectable families of the neighborhood, plentiful, wholsome, & decent, in the style of our country, and such as the best artists here are used to, and contented with. your uncle & companion, Giacomo Raggi, is so far satisfied with it, and with the treatment he has recieved in common with you, that altho' he was offered permission to return with you, he chose to abide by the obligations and benefits of his contract, and continues his services with perfect contentment. I am conscious of having myself ever treated you with just respect, and the character of the Proctor, the most unassuming and accomodating man in the world, is a sufficient assurance of the same on his part.

Jefferson, insisting that he and the proctor had fulfilled "all the claims of justice, of indulgence, and of liberality" toward the artisan, told Raggi that the "desponding and unhappy state" of his mind while at the university "proceeded from the constitutional and moral affections resulting from your own temperament and the incidents acting on it, and not from any thing depending on those in our employ." Jefferson declined Raggi's offer to make the capitals at Washington and closed the matter to further discussion, directing future correspondence to the proctor, "within whose duties it lies, and not within mine."⁽⁴²²⁾

Money Requested from Literary Fund

On the same fall day that Jefferson wrote to Michele Raggi to absolve himself and the university from the stonecutter's ire, he sent a desperate plea for money for the university to his son-in-law and governor, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., who was also president of the Literary Fund. The institution had exhausted the first two-thirds of the $60,000 loan it obtained from the Literary Fund and on 13 August had requested the remaining $20,000 which the fund's board of directors refused to provide.⁽⁴²³⁾ Alexander Garrett, the bursar, with "demands now pressing hardly" on him, called on Jefferson on 7 October asking him to "sollicit from your [Literary Fund] board an immediate attention to the supplementary loan of 20,000. D."⁽⁴²⁴⁾ The Board of Visitors at its fall meeting a few days before on 2–3 October had decided to include in its annual report to the president and directors of the Literary Fund a financial statement drawn up between February and April 1820 that listed the existing debts and projected costs of completing the buildings at $93,600.⁽⁴²⁵⁾ Of course that statement, covering the university's first year of operation (from the spring of 1819 to the spring of 1820) did not accurately represent the university's financial situation in October 1820 because another half-year had passed. Accordingly, the proctor made a detailed statement of the university's expenditures covering the previous twelve months, which Jefferson sent along with the report to the Literary Fund in December.⁽⁴²⁶⁾ Although there was no business concerning the buildings' construction to be discussed by the visitors at their meeting, the account summarized the disbursements to the undertakers over the past year. Despite the desperate state of the university's finances, shifting the debts owed to the workmen to the Literary Fund allowed the building process to continue at the rate initially planned, although it meant postponing the hiring of professors and the opening of the school to students.

Financial Statement

Brockenbrough's "Statement of the application of the Funds" showed that between 1 October 1819 and 30 September 1820, John M. Perry earned more than any of the other contractors by his association with the university.⁽⁴²⁷⁾ First, he received the last payment for the 48¾ acres of land that he sold to the Central College, $3,615.90. He earned $2,990.54 for the "brick work of Pavilion No 3 and seven dormitories, executed in 1819" and an additional $8,598.75 for "carpenters work on pavilion No 4 West and 16 Dormitories, including plastering & lumber, and the brick work of No 4 East with 8 dormitories & the brick & wood work of Hotel B with 9 dormitories" ($15,205.19 total). James Dinsmore received $5,314.15 for "carpenters & Joiners work of Pavilion No 2 West and Pavilion No 4 East and eight dormitories including lumber & other articles." Dinsmore & Perry received $1,544.11 for "Carpenters & Joiners work and lumber for Pavilion No III West and six dormitories." Altogether Perry and Dinsmore together received a total of $12,063.45 from the university bursar.

After Perry, Richard Ware and his gang of Philadelphians earned the most at the construction site during the period. For the "brick work of Pavilions No 1 and 2 East with four dormitories" Ware was paid $3,891.72, and for "Carpenters & Joiners work & lumber for Pavilions 1, 2, & 3 and 13 dormitories" he received $6,503.77, or a total of $10,395.49. Carter & Phillips "for their brick work last year in Pavilions 1 & 5 West & 5 dormitories &c" were paid $3,506.75. Phillips earned another $898.71 for "brick work this year in pavilion No 5 East and Hotel C" and Carter received an additional $926.79 for "brick work in Pavilion No 3 East & Hotel A." Together, Curtis Carter and William B. Phillips took in $5,332.25.

James Oldham brought in $2,919.99 for "carpenters & joiners work on Pavilion No 1 West with four dormitories and Hotel A with nine dormitories and lumber." Abiah Thorn earned only $86.50, that for laying the "stone foundation to Columns to Pav: No 1." George W. Spooner, Jr., apparently gaining from the proctor's mistake in awarding him extra work, made $2,084.57 for "carpenters work on Pav: No 5 West and on Hotel C with 10 dormitories & lumber." John Neilson, on the other hand, earned only $1,486.57 for "work and lumber for Pav: No 5 West and pavilion No 5 East with 7 dormitories." For "brick work in Pavilion No 5 west," Peter Myers was paid $11.56.

The former proctor of the Central College, Nelson Barksdale, received $800 "for lumber for the buildings," $1,101 for "the hire of Negroes for 1819," and $65 for "a horse for the use of the Institution," a total of $1,966. The Italian stonecutters Michele and Giacomo Raggi received for "Wages as scu[l]ptors, board, washing &c." $1,294.24, and Giacomo Raggi another $70 for "wages," bringing their earnings together to $1,364.24. Stonecutters Joseph Cowden and James Campbell were paid $314.50, and John Gorman got $679.06. John Cullen "& others for quarrying Stone for Boxes, Caps, Sills, steps &c" received $269.25, and Thomas B. Conway $75 for "free Stone."

Joseph Antrim earned $681.69 for "plastering," and Edward Lowber was paid $598.25 for his role in the "painting & Glazing." A. H. Brooks "for Covering pavilions 1 and 5 West and 1 and 2 East with Tin & tin pipes for No 2 W" was paid $798.47. Elijah Huffman got $242.53 for "boring & laying water pipes," Lewis Bailey for "ditching for the pipes" $25.50, and William Boin & others for do" $85.67. John Herron for "Wages as Overseer" earned $106 and Jesse Lewis for "Smiths work" $160.88. Another $1,620.26 was spent "for provisions for laborers & Overseer paid for hire of laborers, Waggonage and other unavoidable expences." Charlottesville merchant James Leitch took in $1,332.73 for "sundries furnished for the buildings in the year 1818 and 1819," and the Richmond merchant firm of Brockenbrough & Harvie "for nails" was paid $282.96. The largest Richmond firm supplying the university, John Van Lew & Co., was paid $1,360.76 for supplying "Tin, hardware" and the smallest Richmond supplier, D. W. & C. Warwick received for "Sundries" only $37. (The suppliers total added up to $3,013.45.) Finally, Proctor Brockenbrough received $1,604.85 for his salary and Alexander Garrett $375 for his services as bursar. All told, the disbursements amounted to $59,158.81.

In addition to recording monies already spent in construction at the university, Brockenbrough's 30 September statement provided an estimate of the amount required to finish the "buildings now on hand, and two more Hotels, a Proctors house and twenty eight dormitories to complete the range on the Western Street." First, "Agreeable to our estimate on the 1st Oct: 1819. we required to complete the buildings then contracted for the sum of" $38,898.25. To complete the "3 other Pavilions now building," would require $18,000; the 3 Hotels or boarding houses do," $9,000; and the "45 Dormitories do," $18,000, making a total of $45,000. "For 2 Other Hotels & proctors house on the West Street with 28 dormitories yet to be put up," $20,200 was expected to be needed. Add for the "Stone work digging & removing earth and other unavoidable expences at least 25 pr cent," or $26,024.56, and the grand total needed to finish construction climbed to $130,122.81. However, $59,158.81 already paid to the "Several undertakers of the buildings and others as pr the foregoing account since Oct: 1st 1819" could be subtracted from the $130,122.81, leaving an estimated $70,964 needed to finish all the construction of the buildings. As for income, the $20,000 balance from the $60,000 loan was yet left, and the 1821 yearly annuity would be $15,000, although $2,400 had to be deducted from that to pay interest on the outstanding $40,000. Thus the Balance required to complete the buildings (exclusive of the library), Brockenbrough estimated, was $38,364.

Jefferson's Summary of Finances

Jefferson summarized the foregoing statement at the end of November for Senator Cabell to use "in conversations, to rebut exaggerated estimates of what our institution is to cost, and reproaches of deceptive estimates." According to the best estimates of the university bursar, proctor, and rector, all the lands, buildings, and "other expenditures" for the University of Virginia could be expected to cost $162,364, exclusive of the library and an observatory. That included the original estimate of 10 pavilions for the professors' accommodation ($60,000), 6 hotels for dieting the students ($21,000), 104 dormitories ($36,400), 200 acres of land with additional buildings ($10,000), and contingencies such as leveling the grounds and streets, laying the water pipes, covering roofs with tin instead of shingles, and "numerous other" contingencies ($10,000), plus the actual cost above the estimates of about 18 percent ($24,964). An observatory could be built, Jefferson thought, for $10,000 to $12,000 and the "Library House" for $40,000 more, thus pushing up the estimate for the entire group of buildings to $214,364.⁽⁴²⁸⁾ Jefferson told Senator Cabell that "not an office at Washington has cost less" than the $162,364 figure, and the "single building of the Court house of Henrico has cost nearly that: and the massive walls of the millions of bricks of Wm. & Mary could not be now built for a greater sum."⁽⁴²⁹⁾ His letter to Cabell containing the statement and defense of the probable costs of the buildings also contained an impassioned argument for a whole scheme of public education for his beloved Virginia, but Cabell and other university supporters in the General Assembly thought its promotion might work against the university's best interest. "Our object is now," wrote Senator Cabell, "to finish the buildings."⁽⁴³⁰⁾