Building Monticello

Thomas Jefferson spent most of his adult life designing and redesigning Monticello, which was constructed over a period of forty years. He said, "Architecture is my delight, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favorite amusements."

Little Mountain

Jefferson inherited sizable property in Albemarle County, Virginia, from his father, Peter Jefferson, who along with Joshua Fry created the most accurate map of Virginia of their time. In May 1768, the twenty-five-year-old Thomas Jefferson directed his enslaved workers to begin levelling a 868-foot-high mountain, where he intended to build his home. He called it Monticello, which means "little mountain" in old Italian.

The First Monticello

As early as 1790, Jefferson began planning revisions for his Albemarle County home, based in part on what he had observed in France. In 1796, walls of the original home were knocked down to make room for an expansion that would essentially double the floorplan of the house. The new plan called for a hallway connecting the older rooms to a new set of rooms on the east. The second Monticello was largely completed in 1809, the year Jefferson retired from the Presidency.

The Second Monticello

Among the many French elements that Jefferson incorporated into the second Monticello, the most dramatic was the dome placed over the already-existing Parlor, making it the first American home with such a feature. He crafted the building to give the appearance -- as he had seen at the Hotel de Salm -- that the three-story building was only one story tall. To achieve this effect, windows in the second-story bedrooms are on the floor level, so that from the outside, they appear to be an extension of the first-floor windows. On the third floor, light is provided by skylights invisible from the ground. Alcove beds and indoor privies are two more French features incorporated into Monticello. Although he was referring to food, one can understand why Patrick Henry claimed that Jefferson's time abroad had "Frenchified" him.