Rotunda, North Face ca. 1896

New Rotunda Landscaping Opens the View

Aug. 14, 2000 -- In addition to the many renovation projects currently underway in the University of Virginia central grounds, the declining boxwood plantings on the upper terrace on the University Avenue side of the Rotunda are slated for replacement this fall. Utility work and storm damage in recent years have contributed to the haggard appearance of these large American boxwoods. The Office of the Architect prepared a plan to remove the shrubs this summer and replace them in the fall with English boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens suffruticosa), which will be easier to maintain at a lower height; this proposal was approved by the University Arboretum and Landscape Committee last April. The project will also include replanting the side slopes of the terrace with a low-growing groundcover (Ophiopogon japonicus - dwarf mondo grass), a change prompted by safety concerns with mowing grass on these very steep grades.

The area now occupied by the north terrace has changed dramatically since the Jeffersonian period. Historic evidence suggests that the north façade of the Rotunda was not originally designed to provide public access to the academical village. A steep hillside simply planted in Scotch broom negotiated the grade change from the Rotunda to University Avenue. In 1852, an annex to the Rotunda designed by Robert Mills was added to the north side, consuming the hillside facing University Avenue. After the Rotunda fire of 1895, the ruined Rotunda annex ramparts served to create a monumental plinth for a new, more elaborate north entrance to the Rotunda included in the McKim, Mead and White renovation. The design of this formal forecourt included simple grass parterres and crushed stone paths. The first boxwoods were planted along the terrace perimeter in the 1930's. In the late 1950's, University President Colgate W. Darden initiated a Rotunda landscape improvement project which included the replacement the failing rampart walls with grass slopes as well as the removal of the then overgrown boxwoods and replanting with smaller plants of the same species. It is these American box, planted in 1959, which in turn will be removed and replaced as part of the current landscape improvement project.

The University's Landscape Master Plan (by Michael Vergason Landscape Architects in coordination with Ayers Saint Gross Architects) is the latest in a series of studies recommending the replacement of the American boxwood on the north terrace with a lower-growing species. Reasons typically cited include opening views to the Rotunda as well as improving the aesthetics and function of the terrace as a gathering place. The rapid deterioration of the American boxwoods in recent years has forced the issue, compelling the University to initiate the replacement project. The removals are scheduled to begin Aug. 14 in preparation for fall replanting.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: please contact the Office of University Relations at (804) 924-7116. Television reporters should contact the TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.
SOURCE: U.Va. News Services

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