A Mansion's History
While conducting my research at Hoole Library, I discovered many things about the mansion that I would not have known had I not done the research. This home has faced so many obstacles, I cannot believe that it's still around today. However, thanks to the tenacity of some prominent members of the university and the Tuscaloosa community, that beautiful home on University Boulevard is still around and looking better than ever.
In the Beginning...
Photo from lib.ua.edu
The problems began before the home was even completed. Because of the extravagant price of the home, it was understandably considered “unnecessarily lavish” (according to the historic marker outside the home) by the state legislature, especially since it was built using the educational trust fund. No matter what anyone thought of the mansion's price, there was one thing everyone could agree on: if they were going to build it, it was going to be built right. In the Tuscaloosa Flag of the Union (a local newspaper) on March 20, 1831, the announcement of the building of the University was made: “Materials are to be of the best quality and the work must be done in the best manner, according to the plan and specifications” (Mansion). This also applied to the building of the President's Mansion, which has survived many hardships since it was constructed.
After the home was completed, the problems continued. Because of the mansion's monumental scale it was extremely hard to properly furnish: something that Basil Manly, the University's second president, found out the hard way. Because he was to be the first president living in the mansion, he was the one in charge of furnishing the home. “Before moving in he made a special trip down river to Mobile and New Orleans to buy additional household items. On the return trip the steamer Hercules sank...”(Mellown). The result of the shipwreck? Five hundred dollars worth of ruined furniture and a soggy president.
To take up space and to help relieve the other cramped university buildings, Manly decided to turn one of the front parlors into a meeting room for the Board of Trustees. He decided not to take a trip down river to get furniture for this room, and rather opted to use furniture from the state capitol building, which at the time was in Tuscaloosa. However, this is not the only way that the University used the mansion for more than just a home. The front parlors on the main floor of the mansion were used for commencement ceremonies until the class sizes got too large.
The placement of the mansion was deliberate. Basil Manly picked out the place for the mansion to sit on campus, most likely so that he could be in the middle of the action. The original plans for the University had the medical school placed at the site where the president's home sits today. If you were to have an aerial view of the University, or even stand at the front door of the mansion, you would notice that it is perfectly centered with Denny Chimes, The Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, and Clark Hall. However, all of the buildings I listed were built after the President's Mansion was constructed.Why? Because of the Civil War, which caused yet another problem for our wonderful mansion.
The Civil War
During the Civil War, Mr. Landon C. Garland was the president of the University. When Union soldiers were on their way to the campus, Mr. Garland took his cadets (who were actually students, for at the time, the University was a Military college) to meet them, while the rest of the Garland family took refuge with the Bryce family at their hospital for the insane just next to the University. Upon hearing that the Union soldiers were on their way to burn the University to the ground, Mrs. Garland made her way back to the mansion to protect her home. According to The University of Alabama: a Pictorial History by Suzanna Rau Wolfe, Mrs. Garland
“found in her bedroom three soldiers and a great four poster bed a mass of flames. Quickly ordering her servants to put out the fire, she looked those young Yankee soldiers straight in the face and said 'You men well know your general did not give you orders to burn private homes, only public buildings. What do you mean burning this home?' ... she commanded them to help her save the house and they did so... and by the time the children came home the traces of the fire were nearly all removed.”
Mrs. Garland's amazing courage and tenacity saved our now dear mansion. Upon taking my tour of the mansion, I was filled with gratitude for her bravery. Because, had she not gone back to the mansion and whipped those Yankees into shape, the mansion would not be here today.
After the horrific burning of the University, only a few buildings remained: the round house (a white round building next to Gorgas Library), the observatory (now named maxwell hall, located across from the Bruno business library), and ,of course, the President's Mansion. Wanting to rebuild the University as quickly as possible, Dr. Garland offered the mansion to boarders of the college, practically converting the mansion into a boarding house. While the students lived at the mansion, Garland and his family moved into faculty housing on campus. Then they began to have classes in the mansion, and Dr. Garland taught math.
How the Mansion was Improved
Photo from lib.ua.edu
The now seemingly trademark white stucco on the home was not the original paint job on the outside of the home. In fact, when the mansion was constructed, it was painted in many different colors, fitting into the time period of the home. According to The University of Alabama: A Guide to the Campus by Robert Oliver Mellown the home was quite colorful: “Paint specifications and a contemporary watercolor of the building reveal that only its facade was stuccoed and painted to imitate cut stone. The door and window casings were also painted a 'stone color.' “ Also the columns were a different color and the blinds on the home were green. It sounds strange to think of our snow-white mansion of being another color, but in fact it was. The white stucco on the entire building was a major project during the 1908 renovation.
Some major features of the mansion are historic themselves. While on my tour of the mansion, I learned that most of the furniture in the home is actually older than the mansion itself. Strangely enough, only one piece of furniture in the home is actually from this state. It is an old desk in the first floor of the home. Otherwise, most of the other furniture is from other countries, mostly France. The oldest furniture in the home is a set of two mirrors in the front two parlors of the mansion. They date back from the time of King George I, and are placed above the mantles. The use of mirrors is fairly common in the 1800s interior design. The reason behind this is that they are used to make the home seem bigger, as if it was not big enough!
A Local Legend Keeps Mansion Beautiful
While some of the furniture in the home was either chosen by past presidents or donated by alumni, there is one person in particular who has made it his personal endeavor to make the home as beautiful as it can be. Jack Westervelt Warner, a very prominent figure in the city of Tuscaloosa, is renowned for his collection of fine art and antiques. He particularly enjoys putting his wonderful furniture on display in the mansion. Before you ever step into the mansion, you can see what he has done to make the grounds more visually appealing. Mr. Warner donated a marble urn called “the cup of knowledge” to the mansion in 1997. Upon giving it to the university he said: “The cup of Knowledge is the only cup University students should drink from.” Now the urn seems to have been with the mansion since it was built, because it adds so much character to the facade of the building. However, the urn is not the only thing he has donated. He has also contributed the dining room table and many other pieces that are too numerous to count. His reasoning for this is displayed in the foyer of the mansion, on a plaque above a marble bust that he donated to the University: “Any truly great University should have a gem that lifts the soul above the clouds.”
Another Close Call
While it seems that the University has done a great job to keep the mansion in good condition as of late, there was one more close call that happened fairly recently that could have, yet again, destroyed the President's home. Not long after the million dollar renovation of the home in 1991, there was another fire at the mansion. According to A Mansion's Memories, there was a “faulty hidden light switch in the floor of a third floor bedroom, it was originally put there to highlight a painting.” No one knew it was there during the renovation because it never showed up on any of the wiring blueprints from past renovations. The carpet around the light switch caught fire. No one was in the home at the time, but thankfully Dr. Sayers, the president of the University, was in his office in Rose Administration and saw the smoke billowing. Thanks to his observation, and the quick thinking of some firefighters, the home was saved. The only damage it received was a little bit of smoke damage and some ripped up carpet.
After working on this research of the history of the President's Mansion, It defninitely seems as if our beloved home on campus seems to have nine lives. It has survived two fires and three times in which it saw horrible disrepair. Thankfully, someone is always there for the home, caring enough to make sure that it is not harmed or forgotten about. I think that at this point in time, no one will ever let it get into that bad of shape again, but if it does, there will always be someone there to help pick up the pieces. I know that I am curious to see what the next 150 years hold for the mansion.
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