Explore the 19th-Century Blueprints that Reimagined UVA’s Iconic Rotunda

Fire destroyed the Rotunda, the most iconic feature of the University of Virginia’s Grounds, in October 1895. University officials immediately pushed to rebuild. In 1896, after a false start with McDonald Brothers architects of Louisville, Kentucky, the Board of Visitors hired the prominent New York firm McKim, Mead & White to redesign the historic center of the University. Stanford White, the artistic force of the firm, took the lead in the Rotunda redesign.