The
Cavalier Daily online | print | mobile
Friday, August 22, 2014
Vol. 125, Issue 1
Inside look at new Bike Share program
Whit Mayberry: A departed baseball star
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PAGE 6
What to Wear: First Year fashion PAGE 9
Behind the Scenes: Virginia Film Festival
Love Connection: Scott and Kelsey
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PAGE 19
Amid renovation, destruction and discovery Marshall Bronfin| The Cavalier Daily
Construction team begins Phase Two of Rotunda project, discovers remains of original structure Alison Phanthavong News Writer
The massive restoration project for Thomas Jefferson’s historic Rotunda continues as students and professors return for the fall semester. The beloved University landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site has been fenced off since the conclusion of Final Exercises in May, making way for heavy duty construction equipment and teams of workers. Major goals of the project — which began in 2012 and is now in “Phase Two” — include bringing the general utilities up to date and making the space more readily accessible to the University community. Phase Two is expected to be completed in Spring 2016 and cost $42.5 million.
Senior Historic Preservation Planner Brian Hogg said Phase Two of renovations includes extensive changes to the north and south porticos, replacement of the capitals of the columns, repairs to the marble in the north stairs, new landscaping for the east and west courtyards and the north terrace, and improvement of the facilities and programming of the building. “All of the building’s systems will be replaced and enhanced — power, data, HVAC [Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning], and the elevator,” Hogg said. “One of the biggest effects will not be a physical change, but a programming one.” Hogg said the extensive renovation project was absolutely necessary, as the last major renovation took place in 1976. “The roof leaked before last year’s work,” Hogg said. “The build-
ing systems were outdated, inefficient, lacked the wide variety of modern controls we now expect, and in some cases were unreliable.” The University aims to make the Rotunda a more central facility to University life after this phase of renovations is complete. “Last year the University undertook a pilot program of expanded classroom use and extended hours for student use and study,” Hogg said. “These efforts of increasing access and use to the building will be retained and expanded with additional study areas and expanded programming of the building.” University Architect David J. Neuman also said the renovations aim to reinvigorate Jefferson’s original vision for the Rotunda as a centerpiece for education at the University — a vision that has dulled considerably since the library was
moved from the Rotunda to Alderman Library in 1938. “Jefferson intended the Rotunda to be the central focus of the Academical Village — not only physically by its size, location and architectural presence, but also programmatically by its function as the library and central classroom building that would be used daily by faculty and students,” Neuman said on the Rotunda webpage. “It is our intention to return the Rotunda to that central role.” A significant amount of planning and purchasing has laid the groundwork for the remaining construction to come. Major demolition, underpinning, utility work and efforts to replace the capitals began this summer, accompanied by exciting historical discoveries. University Conservator Mark Kutney said the renovations team
found remains of the original Rotunda from before the fire of 1895, including a 12-inch thick layer of structural remains and pieces of metal, iron and glass that appear to be from the original building. Pieces of tin painted red were also found and are thought to be pieces from roofing shingles Jefferson was known to have used in his construction. “We now have pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle that we have never had before,” Kutney said. “[We have] more information and knowledge of how Jefferson’s building was and how construction was at the time.” These findings are significant, Kutney said, because of the Ro-
see ROTUNDA, page 4