Thomas Jefferson Papers

Enclosure: Peter Maverick’s Engraving of the Ground Plan of the University of Virginia, [by 12 November 1822]

Enclosure

Peter Maverick’s Engraving of the Ground Plan of the University of Virginia

[by 12 Nov. 1822]

 

(illustration)

Engraving (facsimile in ViU: Edwin M. Betts Memorial Collection of University of Virginia Prints, Photographs and Illustrations); undated; with later handwritten notations at head of text by TJ’s granddaughter Ellen W. Randolph Coolidge.

The ground plan above is the first of two versions that were engraved by Maverick during TJ’s lifetime. In 1824, when most of the 250 copies of the 1822 print had been sold and the opening of the University of Virginia to students was imminent, TJ asked Maverick to create a second image using the original plate, but altering it to include numbers on the dormitories, an additional dormitory (number 55) at the end of the West Range, and covered connections instead of outdoor staircases at the terraces leading off both sides of the Rotunda. These changes reflected the university as it had actually been constructed. Maverick sent 250 copies of this revised rendering to TJ early in 1825 (Edwin M. Betts, “Groundplans and Prints of the University of Virginia, 1822–1826,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 90 [1946]: 81–90; TJ to Maverick, 22 Sept. 1824; TJ to William J. Coffee, 5 Jan. 1825; Coffee to TJ, 16 Jan. 1825).

Index Entries

  • Maverick, Peter; and University of Virginia ground plan search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; dormitory rooms search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; ground plan of search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; Rotunda (library) search