Rotunda Fire

On October 27, 1895, a crowd looks on as flames appear to rise from the Rotunda on the Lawn at the University of Virginia. A fire caused by faulty wiring in the nearby Annex spread to the Rotunda and extensively damaged the building. Rufus W. Holsinger, a local photographer, took this image that day using an eight-by-ten-inch glass-plate negative. He did not arrive in time to capture actual flames, however, so he doctored the photograph with artful scratches.

Citation: University of Virginia Visual History Collection, RG-30/1/10.011, prints16078. Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.