Fire destroyed the Rotunda, the most iconic feature of the University of Virginia’s Grounds, in October 1895. University officials immediately pushed to rebuild. In 1896, after a false start with McDonald Brothers architects of Louisville, Kentucky, the Board of Visitors hired the prominent New York firm McKim, Mead & White to redesign the historic center of the University. Stanford White, the artistic force of the firm, took the lead in the Rotunda redesign.