“ architecture is my delight, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favourite amusements”
Jefferson's lifelong interest in the classical world included a passion for architecture. Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio's Four Books of Architecture and renowned British Palladian architect James Gibbs's The Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture influenced Jefferson's architectural plans throughout his life. As American Minister to France, 1784-1789, Jefferson was inspired by the neo-classical architectural style then in vogue in Paris, particularly the Hôtel de Salm, the Hôtel de Langeac, and the Maison Carrée.
“ Mr. Jefferson is the first American who has consulted the fine arts to know how he should shelter himself from the weather.”
Monticello is the autobiographical masterpiece of Thomas Jefferson—designed and redesigned and built and rebuilt for more than forty years. It came to serve as the primary example of what scholars call “Jeffersonian Architecture.”
One of the three achievements for which Jefferson wanted to be remembered, this university was the culmination of Jefferson's ideas about architecture and education.
In 1810 Jefferson wrote that a university should be "an academical village" and used this as a guiding principal when he designed the university. His original design called for separate pavilions, each housing accommodations for a professor and a classroom, flanked by dormitories. Modifications were made during construction, but Jefferson’s overall scheme survived.
Learn about Thomas Jefferson's role in planning Washington, D.C., while serving as Secretary of State to George Washington, and his life there as president in the U.S.'s capital city.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe created a drawing of the U.S. Capitol which he presented to his fellow architect, Thomas Jefferson.
This fascinating book by Frederick Doveton Nichols is a compilation of original architectural drawings done by Thomas Jefferson.
Unlike other biographies, which have centered on the political man and his public career, this is a domestic portrait as seen through the prism of Jefferson's love of architecture and Monticello.
This book explores one of England's most respected and influential architects and includes a sprawling gallery of Gibbs's magnificent drawings, perspectives, and blueprints.
Take an architectural tour of Monticello through 28 superb measured drawings created by the Historic American buildings Survey in 1990.
Next page in
Jefferson and . . .
![Elevation drawing of Monticello I, showing a neoclassical building with two-story portico with a triangular pediment, by Thomas Jefferson probably before March 1771, by Thomas Jefferson. N48; K23 [electronic edition]. Thomas Jefferson Papers: An Electronic Archive. Boston, Mass. : Massachusetts Historical Society, 2003. http://www.thomasjeffersonpapers.org/](https://shadwell-montalto.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Jefferson/Day/arch_n48_lg.jpg?w=1200&h=400&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1761929832&s=c84f794f2d8db45ffa932e434f193142)
