Every restoration architect dreads leaky roofs, unstable foundations, and finding a document filled with important details after a project is finished. Milton Grigg – the architect who designed the restoration of Monticello’s North Dependency in 1940 – successfully reconstructed a functional roof...
The restoration of the Stone Stable on Mulberry Row has begun. The stable is one of two Jefferson-era buildings on Mulberry Row that will be restored as part of a larger effort to return the mountaintop to its appearance during Jefferson’s lifetime. Jefferson’s documents identify two generations of...
How do you locate evidence for missing curtain hardware two hundred years after it was removed? Science! The Restoration Department recently used four different techniques to locate evidence for curtain hardware. First, a flash light was racked over the window trim to reveal any depressions or any...
The Chinese-inspired railings around Monticello’s terraces date to ca. 1940. After almost 80 years the elaborate wooden panels have weathered to the point where repairs are no longer feasible. While the existing railings will be missed, the project is an exciting opportunity to accurately...
When Jefferson started to build Monticello in the 1770s, he understood that water would always be a scarce resource on the mountaintop. To help solve the problem, the self-trained architect planned to install four cisterns at the corners of the two terraces to collect rain falling on the roof and...
People today often forget how flexible rooms were in the past. The North Passage on the 2 nd floor of Monticello is a prime example of multi-functionality. Of course it was a corridor, but it also acted as a storage area, work room, and as sleeping quarters for visitors and enslaved workers. This...
Jefferson spent much of his life “putting up and pulling down,” most notably during the forty-year construction period of Monticello. Influenced by his readings of ancient and modern architectural writings, Jefferson gleaned the best from both his reading and from his observations in Europe,...
Of all of the 2 nd and 3 rd floor spaces currently undergoing study, restoration, and re-interpretation at Monticello, the Nursery is the most complex as it requires extensive architectural restoration. After Jefferson’s death, Jefferson Monroe Levy, who owned Monticello from 1878-1923, divided the...
This year, the Restoration Department concluded their research into the design of Monticello’s original exterior “Venetian” blinds. The search ultimately led them from Monticello to the U.S. Capitol. Monticello’s current blinds date to the early 20 th century and have reached the end of their...
At the southwestern end of Mulberry Row, Monticello’s principal plantation street, are the ruins of Jefferson’s ca. 1770 joiners’ shop. The shop was used by Jefferson’s free and enslaved carpenters to produce fine architectural woodwork and furniture until Jefferson’s death in 1826. The building is...
