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 Fort Norfolk Magazine Keeper's House Plan

Fort Norfolk History - 1854

Captain Samuel L. Breese, Commandant Navy Yard Gosport, wrote Commodore Joseph Smith, Chief of the Burrow of Yards & Docks, on April 3, 1854; “The new Magazine at Fort Norfolk is completed, with the exception of the conductors, which it is presumed the Bureau proposes placing on the building.” “I shall not recommend placing the powder in it before May next.”

In his fiscal year report, Breese stated that while he had not submitted the original estimate for the magazine, he felt it his duty to explain the delays and the excessive expense and materials.  He declared that the new magazine was of a "most substantial and intricate construction."  The original estimate had been submitted   for a "different and far simpler building" than the completed structure.  "Although perfectly plain in its architecture," he boasted that the magazine “ranks among the first class of buildings in the country for solidity and strength."  The magazine was "covered in by spheroidal arches of great thickness supported on single granite piers."  Breese also pointed out that the bulk of the labor had been "carried on through the unusually hot weather of the last season under all the disadvantages of excessive heat operating upon the workmen within the confined space of the high walls of the Fort."  Finally, he repeated his allegations regarding his predecessor's improper use of the materials and the additional time and expense that this added to the project (BY&D, Annual Reports, 1855-1856, Report of S. L. Breese, June 28, 1854).

Commodore Joseph Smith wrote Captain Samuel L. Breese on June 2, 1854; “Whatever is necessary to be done to the Magazine at Fort Norfolk, is to be charged to “Magazine Norfolk”, not to “Improvement of Navy Yard”, for Magazine at Fort Norfolk, there being no more funds available under this head.” He wrote on June 15, 1854; “Let the Powder Racks, Railway &c. at the Magazine at Fort Norfolk be made and the necessary work done there, agreeably to the estimates which have been furnished to the Bureau of Ordinance and Hydrography, by the Ordinance Officer, under date of the 13th instant, to be charged to “Magazine Norfolk”. The work on Magazine to be done first.”

Captain Samuel L. Breese wrote Commodore Joseph Smith on December 1, 1854; “Under instruction from the Bureau of Ordinance and Hydrography I shall shortly remove the powder from the old to the new Magazine. I do not know any Government use to which the old Magazine building is convertible, and as the brick of which it is built are very common, made in the vicinity they would not probably be worth the cost of taking down and cleaning them. I think it better there for it to sell it at auction, the purchaser to remove it in a given time.”

Commodore Joseph Smith replied on December 6, 1854; “The old Magazine may be sold at auction as recommended by you.”

Captain Samuel L. Breese forwarded a letter from Calvin Brown, Civil Engineer, Navy Yard Gosport on December 19, 1854. He enclosed a copy of the original design for the Magazine Keepers House at Fort Norfolk. (See above and below) He remarked that “the progress that has already been made on this building that some of the materials are now on hand, and the balance contracted for, to be delivered during the present fiscal year. Nearly all the inside woodwork is completed ready to be put up, as well as the cutting of the stonework.”
“I have to state in reference to the design of this building that the arrangement of its roof is injudicious: the plan of running up brick walls to support a roof without ties or girders across especially in an isolated and exposed situation as this will be is not in my judgment, to be recommended. I think unless it is considered absolutely essential on account of the additional room it will afford, that the appearance of the house will be much improved by stopping the walls at the level of the attic floor as letting the roof start from that height; as shown by the red lines. This alteration will admit of one room in the attic and will in all probability afford all the accommodations that may be required by the family occupying the house.”

 

 Fort Norfolk Magazine Keeper's House Plan

 

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Source of Information

"Revised Plan for Keepers House Magazine Fort Norfolk", December 19, 1854, National Archives, College Park, MD - Cartographic (RDSC), Record Group 71: Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1784 - 1963, Series: Bureau of Yards and Docks Plans of Navy Facilities, 1815 - 1966, 557-30-1A.

Samuel L. Breese, "Samuel L. Breese to Joseph Smith", April 3, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Bureau of Yards and Docks, Letters Received from Commandants of Navy Yards -- Norfolk, July 1 1853 - May 31 1854, Box No. 158, Entry 5.

College Of WILLIAM & MARY, "A CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN OF FORT NORFOLK, NORFOLK, VIRGINIA", November 1995, prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District under Contract No. DACW65-94-Q-0075, 28 - 30.

Joseph Smith, "Joseph Smith to Samuel L. Breese ", June 2, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Records of the Office of the Chief of Bureau, 1820 - 1946, Letters Sent 1842 - 95, Vol. 09 of 104, PI-10, E. 1, 483.

Joseph Smith, "Joseph Smith to Samuel L. Breese ", June 15, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Records of the Office of the Chief of Bureau, 1820 - 1946, Letters Sent 1842 - 95, Vol. 09 of 104, PI-10, E. 1, 506.

Samuel L. Breese, "Samuel L. Breese to Joseph Smith", December 1, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Bureau of Yards and Docks, Letters Received from Commandants of Navy Yards -- Norfolk, June 2 1854 - June 30 1855, Box No. 159, Entry 5.

Joseph Smith, "Joseph Smith to Samuel L. Breese ", December 6, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Records of the Office of the Chief of Bureau, 1820 - 1946, Letters Sent 1842 - 95, Vol. 10 of 104, PI-10, E. 1, 349.

Calvin Brown, "Calvin Brown to Samuel L. Breese", December 19, 1854, National Archives, Record Group 71 Bureau of Yards and Docks, Letters Received from Commandants of Navy Yards -- Norfolk, June 2 1854 - June 30 1855, Box No. 159, Entry 5.

"Design for Keepers House Fort Norfolk", December 19, 1854, National Archives, College Park, MD - Cartographic (RDSC), Record Group 71: Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1784 - 1963, Series: Bureau of Yards and Docks Plans of Navy Facilities, 1815 - 1966, 557-30-2A.