After the cornerstone was laid at Pavilion VII on October 6, 1817, the rest of the building of the Academical Village could begin. However, guiding Thomas Jefferson was the fact that he had to build all the buildings and not go into massive debt, even more than he already was in, at least. After Jefferson finished Pavilion VII, he moved on to Pavilion II, then Pavilion X, and so on in a seemingly patternless fashion around the Lawn. Pavilion II and Pavilion X for example are the two Pavilions on East Lawn that are the two most distant. While on West Lawn, Pavilion VII was being built on its lonesome.
Why zigzag and hopscotch around?
With all things Jeffersonian, there was a reason.
A zigzag pattern creates holes, holes that need to be filled with buildings that Jefferson had designed. Jefferson, therefore, could go to the state legislature repeatedly and demand more funds for his University since the project was incomplete. And of course the biggest hole on the lawn occurred at the North end. Jefferson intentionally worked this way. There was no central building at the University, just the plan for ten pavilions. And with a little correspondence with the famous American architect, Benjamin Latrobe, Jefferson worked on a central building that was based on much of Latrobe's ideas. Latrobe suggested that the centerpiece of the University be a domed building, and thus Jefferson designed it, finished it in 1826 and even referred to the Rotunda as "Latrobe's Rotunda."It was to be the half-size ofthe volume of the Pantheon building in Italy. Most of Jefferson's designs were tweaked here and there during building, but when is all said and done, the Pavilions were finished by 1825 and the Rotunda was completed by 1826. These majestic buildings were completed well enough to allow students into the University on March 7, 1825, and the buildings on the lawn have been that way ever since.
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