Period
1822
University of Virginia: Dormitories Historic Structure Report
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
HISTORIC LEGACY
Thomas Jefferson’s design for the dormitories at the University was one of the most innovative and distinctive elements of the original campus. Completed in at the end of 1822, the plan arranged 109 rooms in rows between the pavilions and hotels. Conventional housing for students in this period grouped rooms into barracks-like structures on multiple stories and some argued that this would be a more economical solution, but Jefferson insisted on his preferred arrangement as an essential component of his vision for the campus. Today, the original dormitories remain some of the most desirable student rooms at the university.
Thomas Jefferson
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The University of Virginia hired MCWB Architects to prepare a Historic Structure Report on the dormitories in 2022. This was to include a comprehensive history of their design, construction and use, as well as assessments of current conditions and a physical history of their alteration over the past 200 years. This report is intended to guide future work on the dormitories to ensure that historic materials are preserved, and that any restoration of lost elements can proceed from a solid understanding of their original form. To aid in facilities management, the university also requested the production of a Historic Building Information Management model, a type of computer model that incorporates historical data with three-dimensional geometry.
KEY DISCOVERIES
This HSR recorded the historic materials in the 109 original student rooms using photographs, drawings, and written descriptions of each one. Though it might be supposed that the rooms were all identical, with common histories, we found that they differed in subtle but meaningful ways
Built by different masons and carpenters, construction details varied according to who was responsible. Some were altered to become part of faculty houses, called pavilions. One, the room of Edgar Allan Poe, was restored as a historic site in the 1890s. And most saw their closets and mantels replaced as part of a rehabilitation in the 1950s. As a result of this project, the university understands the original form of the student rooms more clearly than at any time since they were new.
Detail of original blinds and latch at 37 West Lawn.
Details of door casings from original dormitory rooms with typical jamb shown at the top.
Details of original window at 24 East Range.
Original lock at 31 West Range.
Door and blinds at 15 West Range. Note alterations to masonry at head and sill which reflect the raising of the door in the 19th century.
Interior of unrestored dormitory room on the East Lawn.
View of surviving original mantel and closets at 53 West Range.
View of 6-18 East Range
Holsinger photograph of Poe Room, 13 West Range, c. 1900. Special Collections, University of Virginia.
View of restored flat roofs above West Lawn dormitories
Thomas Jefferson, study for section of dormitory and colonnade, July, 1817, N-367. Special Collections, University of Virginia.
