The best-known building in all of American higher education, the University of Virginia’s Rotunda, is in line for a renovation that will begin with replacing its iconic domed roof and repairing its Corinthian column capitals. The building, a half-sized Roman Pantheon in red brick, is the centerpiece of the campus Thomas Jefferson designed for the University, although he did not live to see the Rotunda completed, in 1826.
The $22.9 million undertaking, described in a news release as “phase one” of the renovation project, was approved Tuesday by the University’s Board of Visitors. It will be added to the list of capital projects that the University will submit next year for state approval. The project will include replacing the current metal roof, which is 35 years old, and repairing cracked column capitals.
The Rotunda was most recently renovated in the 1970s, when its interior was restored to its original Greek Revival appearance. But its most famous renovation followed an 1895 fire that gutted the building. The Board of Visitors hired the American architect Stanford White to make repairs, and he replaced Jefferson’s comparatively modest interior with a more monumental, Roman-inspired design.
In recent years the University has been far more cautious with its renovations, re-creating lost elements of Jefferson’s designs and returning buildings to what are believed to be their original colors.
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It’s no campus.
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