1Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 12 June 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
This letter is that of a friendly beggar. I will explain to you the case & then it’s object. we are commencing here the establishment of a College , and instead of building a magnificent house which would exhaust all our funds, we propose to lay of f a square of or rather 3. sides of a square about 7. or 800.f. wide, leaving it open at one end to be extended indefinitely. on the closed end,...
2Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 17 June 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 12 th curr t (P.M. 14 th June ) I have just now received, and am, more than I can express, flattered and gratified by the request it contains.—And not only is it pleasing to me, tha to find that after so many Years knowledge of my character & talents, while employed in the public service under your eye & direction, I still retain your esteem and friendship, but I have...
3Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 28 June 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have found so much pleasure in studying the plan of your College , that the drawings have grown into a larger bulk than can be conveniently sent by the Mail. If you can point out to me any convenient mode of conveyance within a few days, I should gladly avail myself of it. I have put the whole upon one very large sheet, which I am very unwilling to double; and to roll it on a stick will make...
4Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 16 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I found your favor of June 28. on my return hither from my other home , about 90 miles S.W. from hence and near Lynchburg , the mos t growing place in America . they have there the new method of moulding the stock brick in oil, and execute with it the most beautiful brick work, I have ever seen. I went there to try to get a workman skilled in it to come and build our first Academical pavilion,...
5Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Yesterday I had the pleasure to receive Your letter d. July 16 th (P.mark 19 h ). I had presumed that you were from home, and also that as your institution has been so lately organized, some time could be given to the preparation of a design for the buildings.—But by your letter I find not only that I have been designing under a great misconception of your local e but also have presumed upon...
6Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 28 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my last of the 24 th I have engaged a young man of the name of Johnson , to undertake your Stone cutting, should the terms be approved. He is not only capable of to cut a Doric Capital, or a Base, but to execute the common Architectural decorations, as foliage & Rosettes, with great neatness & dispatch, for, in the scarcity of Carvers, I have, for some time past, put him under Andrei , &...
7Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 3 August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of July 24. was recieved yesterday. you might well be led by my 1 st letter into error as to the disposition of our grounds & buildings. the general idea of an Academical village rather than of one large building w as formed by me, perhaps about 15. years ago, on being consulted by mr L. W. Tazewell then a member of our legislature, which was supposed to be then disposed to go into...
8Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 7 August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote on the 3 d in answer to your’s of the 24 th July. that of the 28 th is delivered to me just as I am setting out for Bedford to be absent 6. weeks. after the date of mine to you on the subject of the Stone cutter, we had a meeting of our visitors who supposing you had full employment for all your hands desired me to write to Leghorn for a stone cutter, which I have done. the...
9Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 12 August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A slight indisposition having prevented my attendance at my office, I did not receive your favor of the 2 d (post mark 4 th ) till the 9 th when you would have left Monticello , and I therefore did not immediately answer it, and now direct this letter where I hope it will soon reach You. I now offer to you, with the utmost freedom, a freedom which your request, as well as your long friendship...
10Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, [25] August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Our letters, crossing one another by the way, have produced some confusion. their dates are as follows, in the margin. your lres when rece d when answ d June 28. July 15. July 16 July 24 Aug. 2 Aug. 3. July 18 Aug. 7. Aug. 7. Aug. 12. Aug. 22. Aug. 24. I shall be glad to recieve your drawings; but not at this place, to which the mail is uncertain, and I shall be at Monticello
11Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 6 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Having been absent from Washington I did not receive your letter of the 24 t of Aug t under untill about (sept. 7 th ) 3
12Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 12 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 6 th is recieved, and with it the beautiful set of drawings accompanying it. we are under great obligations to you for them, and having decided to build two more pavilions the ensuing season, we shall certainly take select their fronts from these. they will be Ionic and Corinthian. the Doric now erecting would resemble one of your’s but that the lower order is of arches, & the...
13Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 28 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the , & am much gratified by the approbation you express of my drawings. I hope you will do me the favor to let me know which of the pavilions you approve for your first work of next spring; with a sketch of its dimensions and its plan, that I may send you the working drawings & the details a t large. Some months ago, I sent to Jefferson & Gibson of Richmond a...
14Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I cannot promise that even this shall be the last trouble I shall give you on the subject of our Central college ; for indeed I have nobody else to appeal to. we have agreed to give to our Carpenters & housejoiners the prices stated in the Philadelphia Builder’s price book, with such a percent on them as the is habitually allowed there for the advance of prices since the date of that book. we...
15Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 20 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter has remained a week unanswered in consequence of my absence, but immediately on my return I wrote (yesterday ) to Philadelphia , desired one of the Carpenter’s pricebooks to be sent to You, which I have no doubt will be done without Loss of time.— I am under the necessity of resigning my situation at the Capitol . The present Commissioner Colonel Lane , has from the first week,...
16Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 26] December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The enclosed letter will prove to you that I have not been unmindful of your wish to have the rate of Carpenter’s prices at Philadelphia , as your rule of valuation for the work of the new College . M r Thackara is one of the most respectable citizens & mechanics in Philadelphia . He did the Plaisterer’s work, so much & deservedly admired, of the Capitol , & was sent for again, by but did not...
17Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 7 March 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I arrived here with my family on the 12 h of Jan y and a few days afterwards was taken ill of my old complaint, the Hemicran i a , a complaint in which no one, I believe, can more heartily sympathise with me than yourself, as I believe you are often severely afflicted with it. I was confined to my room for three weeks. Immediately on my recovery I was called to Annapolis to examine the bar at...
18Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 14 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my retirement from the public service I no longer here hear from You, in answer to the letters I have written transmitting the information you requested, and in the only manner in which I could, myself, obtain it. This is the only bad consequence which has resulted to me from my resignation, and the displeasure of the President US. I enclose you, I hope without offence, as a statement...
19Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 19 May 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Apr. 14. is just now at hand. that of Mar. 7. had been recieved in due time, with the book of prices, for which I ought not to have been contented with internally thanking you, as I certainly and cordially did. but you have no conception of the drudgery of letter writing to which I am subjected, and which really renders life a burthen. writing too is become a slow & painful...