I think this is remarkably on topic, as it is forcing me to rethink some of my strong opinions on faithful restoration vs "sympathetic" renovation. I'm not sure where I'm going to end up here, so my apologies to all in advance for my rambling.
In the interests of full disclosure:
1) I'm a University alumnus, 1976 School of Commerce.
2) I lived on The Lawn; Mike Sweeney's picture was taken more or less in front of my old room. In my opinion, there are few places on earth (even though inhabited by 20-21 year old beer swilling sex crazed almost adults
) more ideally designed as an "academical village".
3) I stand in awe of Mr. Jefferson. His human foibles simply make him more interesting..... Walking through Monticello and seeing his original inventions (calendar clock, indoor plumbing, etc), knowing his success as a diplomat and as a domestic statesman, reading his voluminous correspondence, then realizing he designed the various buildings of the Lawn to serve as objects of study for students of classical architecture (but using then modern materials and construction techniques); how can anyone not be in awe.
4) The last "renovation" of the Rotunda was completed my last year at the University (1976). Interest in renovating the Rotunda was initiated by students who held, for a number of years, a formal "Restoration Ball" the proceeds of which went to a fund to "jump start" funding of the project. BTW, the $40MM will be for the Rotunda only-- if memory serves, the '76 renovation cost over $5MM, and that was 30 years ago!. The '76 renovation focused on converting the Stanford White "silo" interior (which was beautiful visually but completely useless functionally) back to a fairly faithful approximation of Jefferson's interior plan.
To get this rambling narrative back on topic, Mr. Jefferson's "Academical Village" evolved substantially over time. as do most golf courses. Originally, it consisted of the Rotunda, which housed the library and seminar rooms; the Lawn, which consisted of student dorm rooms and Professor's residences (with rooms in which they were expected to conduct classes); and the Range, with more dorm rooms and eating places. The "Academical Village" was open on one end (SW, I think), philosophically looking out to the "real world".
The first major change was an addition, called the "Annex" to the Rotunda to house additional classroom space. This addition was incredibly ugly and out of character with the Jeffersonian design, but was much needed due to the growing student body. The second major change was to enclose the SW end of the "Village" with a new classroom building, compromising the philosophy of "looking out" to the "real world", but adding needed classroom facilities. Then the Rotunda fire comes, and Stanford White eliminates the extraordinarily ugly annex, restores the beauty of the Rotunda (like many GCAs, adding a few of his own touches), but eliminates any functionality in the building. Finally, the '76 renovation restores some of the functionality and the "original" plan, but retains some of the (?best) White changes.
I think the point of all my previous rambling is that Mr. Jefferson designed the Rotunda, and all the surrounding "Academical Village" to be a functioning community. Each piece had it's part in the whole, and none was ornamental. Mr. Jefferson would be offended by a purely ornamental device..... the stairways in Monticello are about two feet wide as he thought they were wasteful in terms of space!!
I think where I end up in principle (both for the Rotunda and with restoration of classic courses) is that:
1) Where reasonable and practical, the original design should be the default.
2) Where a change has been made, evaluate it in terms of today's play. If it seems a good alteration, look at it again two or three times. If it's still a good change (and consistent with the original archie's philosophy), keep it.
3) Where a big change has been made that changes the original intent (or strategy), look many times to see the best outcome. Previously, I would have simply said go back to the original..... now I'm not so sure.
Jamey