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Exhibition: Making Monticello: Jefferson’s ‘Experiment in Architecture’
Making Monticello: Jefferson’s ‘Essay in Architecture’ will showcase the architectural origins, construction, and four-decade evolution of the Monticello house, which is widely regarded as one of the icons of American architecture.
Viewers of this exhibition in the David Bruce Smith Gallery will become familiar with Jefferson’s ever-changing designs over time and the enslaved and free workers who performed the myriad tasks that made his vision a reality, from the erection of the first structure in 1770 to the virtual completion of the house and its “dependencies” in 1809.
Making Monticello will feature displays of drafting instruments, architectural references, and copies of Jefferson’s drawings and notebooks that underscore his deep and longstanding interest in architecture. Three detailed models will illustrate Jefferson’s first design for Monticello, a section through the completed house, and the innovative zigzag roof. A video animation will show the transformation of the “first Monticello” into the house that exists today.
Screenshots from the video animation Putting Up & Pulling Down featured in the Making Monticello exhibition:
First Monticello with
South Pavilion
Tearing down the
first Monticello
Construction of
Monticello's Dome
Side view of
second Monticello
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