Editing University of Virginia (section)

===Academical Village===
{{see also|The Lawn|The Rotunda (University of Virginia)|l2=The Rotunda|The Range (University of Virginia)|l3=The Range}}

Throughout its history, the University of Virginia has won praise for its unique [[Jeffersonian architecture]]. In January 1895, less than a year before the Great Rotunda Fire, ''[[The New York Times]]'' said the design of the University of Virginia "was incomparably the most ambitious and monumental architectural project that had or has yet been conceived in this century."<ref name="schuyler">''Architectural Record'', 4 (January–March 1895), pp. 351–353</ref> In the [[United States Bicentennial]] issue of their ''AIA Journal'', the [[American Institute of Architects]] called it "the proudest achievement of American architecture in the past 200 years."<ref name="aia">''AIA Journal'', 65 (July 1976), p. 91</ref> The Academical Village, together with Jefferson's home at [[Monticello]], which he also designed, is a [[World Heritage Site]]. The first collegiate architecture and culture World Heritage Site in the world, it was listed by UNESCO in 1987.<ref name ="WHS" /><ref>{{cite web |url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat#s4 |title = World Heritage List Statistics |website = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |access-date = March 3, 2020 |archive-date = May 14, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514002820/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat#s4 |url-status = live }}</ref>

Jefferson's original architectural design revolves around the ''Academical Village'', and that name remains in use today to describe both the specific area of the Lawn, a grand, terraced green space surrounded by residential and academic buildings, the gardens, the Range, and the larger university surrounding it. The principal building of the design, the Rotunda, stands at the north end of the Lawn, and is the most recognizable symbol of the university. It is half the height and width of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in Rome, which was the primary inspiration for the building. The Lawn and the Rotunda were the models for many similar designs of "centralized green areas" at universities across the country. The space was designed for students and professors to live in the same area. The Rotunda, which symbolized knowledge, showed hierarchy. The south end of the Lawn was left open to symbolize the view of cultivated fields to the south, as reflective of Jefferson's ideal for an agrarian-focused nation.

Most notably designed by inspiration of the Rotunda and Lawn are the expansive green spaces headed by similar buildings built at: [[Duke University]] in 1892; [[Columbia University]] in 1895; [[Johns Hopkins University]] in 1902; [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in 1904; [[Rice University]] in 1910; Peabody College of [[Vanderbilt University]] in 1915; [[Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology#Killian Court (1916)|Killian Court]] at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] in 1916; the Grand Auditorium of [[Tsinghua University]] built in 1917 in Beijing, China; the Sterling Quad of [[Yale Divinity School]] in 1932; and the university's own [[Darden Graduate School of Business Administration|Darden School]] in 1996.

{{Multiple image|align = right|direction = vertical|width=250
|image1=Winter view toward the Rotunda, the University of Virginia (under renovation, 2016).jpg|caption1=Winter view toward the Rotunda (under renovation)
|image2=Lawn_UVa_south_toward_Old_Cabell_Hall_2010.jpg|caption2=Winter view toward the South Lawn
}}

Flanking both sides of the Rotunda and extending down the length of the Lawn are ten Pavilions interspersed with student housing rooms. Each has its own classical architectural style, as well as its own walled garden separated by Jeffersonian Serpentine walls. These walls are called "serpentine" because they run a sinusoidal course, one that lends strength to the wall and allows for the wall to be only one brick thick, one of many innovations by which Jefferson attempted to combine aesthetics with utility.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/grizzard|title=Grizzard, Frank E.''Documentary history of the construction of the buildings at the University of Virginia, 1817–1828''. University of Virginia Libraries. 1996–2002.|author=Keith Weimer|access-date=November 26, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927005452/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/grizzard/|archive-date=September 27, 2012}}</ref>

On October 27, 1895, the Rotunda burned to a shell because of an electrical fire that started in the Rotunda Annex, a long multi-story structure built in 1853 to house additional classrooms. The electrical fire was no doubt assisted by the help of overzealous faculty member [[William Holding Echols|William "Reddy" Echols]], who attempted to save it by throwing roughly {{convert|100|lb|kg}} of [[dynamite]] into the main fire in the hopes the blast would separate the burning Annex from Jefferson's own Rotunda. His last-ditch effort ultimately failed. Perhaps ironically, one of the university's main honors student programs is named for him. University officials swiftly approached celebrity architect [[Stanford White]] to rebuild the Rotunda. White took the charge further, disregarding Jefferson's design and redesigning the Rotunda interior—making it two floors instead of three, adding three buildings to the foot of the Lawn, and designing a president's house. He did omit rebuilding the Rotunda Annex, the remnants of which were used as fill and to create part of the modern-day Rotunda's northern-facing plaza. The classes formerly occupying the Annex were moved to the South Lawn in White's new buildings.{{Citation needed |reason= sources definitely exist for this, but they are not listed here | date= August 2019 }}

The White buildings have the effect of closing off the sweeping perspective, as originally conceived by Jefferson, down the Lawn across open countryside toward the distant mountains. The White buildings at the foot of the Lawn effectively create a huge "quadrangle", albeit one far grander than any traditional college quadrangle at the [[University of Cambridge]] or [[University of Oxford]].

In concert with the [[United States Bicentennial]] in 1976, Stanford White's changes to the Rotunda were removed and the building was returned to Jefferson's original design. Renovated according to original sketches and historical photographs, a three-story Rotunda opened on Jefferson's birthday, April 13, 1976. [[Queen Elizabeth II]] came to visit the Rotunda in that same year for the Bicentennial and had a well-publicized stroll of the Lawn. The university was listed by ''[[Travel + Leisure]]'' in September 2011 as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and by [[MSN]] as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-beautiful-college-campuses/18|title="America's most beautiful college campuses" ''Travel+Leisure'' (September 2011)|work=Travel + Leisure|access-date=November 26, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206054616/http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-beautiful-college-campuses/18|archive-date=December 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lifestyle.ie.msn.com/student-special/most-beautiful-universities-666#image=4|title=Most beautiful universities|publisher=[[MSN]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120104454/http://lifestyle.ie.msn.com/student-special/most-beautiful-universities-666#image=4|archive-date=January 20, 2013|access-date=September 15, 2012}}</ref>