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/

Architecture

“ architecture is my delight, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favourite amusements”
Thomas Jefferson, as recorded by Margaret Bayard Smith, 1824
Jefferson's circa 1770 drawing for stone house (slave quarters) matching the layout of the existing stone house/textile workshop, except for showing two additional first-floor windows.

Influences and Inspirations

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.

Conceptual Foundations

“ Mr. Jefferson is the first American who has consulted the fine arts to know how he should shelter himself from the weather.”
Andre Chastellux, 1784 
Straight on view of Monticello's West Front in the evening.

My Essay in Architecture

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.”

The University of Virginia 

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.

Vision, Planning, and Construction

Federal Architecture

Jefferson's Architectural Legacy

This video by the Government Services Administration highlights how public buildings continue to reflect Jefferson's guiding principles, despite changes in architectural styles,

More Resources

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