Photograph of Charles Follen McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White, ca. 1905 McKim, Mead & White architectural records and drawings, Avery Library, Columbia University

Longitudinal section of the Rotunda Restoration, 1896 McKim, Mead & White, architects; signed by Haase, draftsman Diazotype print and wash on linen, 31 ½ x 51 ½ in. University Archives (RG-31/1/2:2.872)

After floundering for a short period, the University hired the New York firm McKim, Mead & White. Charles Follen McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White were the nation’s foremost architects: they were harbingers of the burgeoning Colonial Revival and had played central roles in planning the World’s Columbian Exposition. The firm was also designing Columbia University and New York University’s Bronx campus.

With Stanford White as the lead designer, the firm began by “restoring” the Rotunda. Responding to the Board of Visitors’ request for a northern entrance to the University, White’s portico matched Jefferson’s on the south elevation and forever changed the way one enters the Academical Village. He also rebuilt Jefferson’s south portico and added an esplanade connecting it with his new portico on the north, creating office space underneath and an additional terrace from which to observe the dramatic view down the Lawn.