Jeffersonian architecture is an American form ofNeo-Classicism and/orNeo-Palladianism embodied in the architectural designs ofU.S. President andpolymathThomas Jefferson, after whom it is named. These include his home (Monticello), his retreat (Poplar Forest), the university he founded (University of Virginia), and his designs for the homes of friends and political allies (notablyBarboursville). More than a dozen private homes bearing his personal stamp still stand today. Jefferson's style was popular in the early American period at about the same time that the more mainstreamGreek Revival architecture was also coming into vogue (1790s–1830s) with his assistance.
In colonial Virginia during the 18th century there were no schools of architecture, so Jefferson learned the profession on his own from books and by studying some of the classical architectural designs of the day. As a self-taught architect andclassicist, he was most influenced by the Italian revivalist architectAndrea Palladio (1508–1580). His "bible" wasAndrea Palladio'sThe Four Books of Architecture, which taught him the basic principles of classical design.[1][2] Jeffersonian architecture is therefore perhaps best described as "Palladian" in inspiration.[3]
Jefferson was also influenced by architectJames Gibbs (1682–1754), and by French Neo-classical buildings, such as theHôtel de Salm inParis, when he served asAmbassador to France. While the Jeffersonian style incorporates Palladian proportions and themes, it is at the same time unique to Jefferson's own personal sensibility and the materials available to him in early republican Virginia.[3][4]
Throughout his adult life Jefferson made many architectural drawings and wrote extensively about architectural design. Today there are over 600 pages of architectural documents by Jefferson now housed at theMassachusetts Historical Society and are commonly referred to as theCoolidge Collection.[5]
One characteristic which typifies Jefferson's architecture is the use of the octagon and octagonal forms in his designs. Palladio never used octagons, but Jefferson employed them as a design motif—halving them, elongating them, and employing them in whole as with the dome of Monticello, or the entire house at Poplar Forest.
Located just outsideCharlottesville, Jefferson'sVirginia home and estate is situated on the summit of an 850-foot (260 m)-high peak in theSouthwest Mountains. Its name comes from theItalian for "little mountain." Jefferson began work on his original “Monticello” in 1768. He left his home in 1784 to serve as Minister of the United States to France. During his tenure in Europe, he had an opportunity to see some of the classical buildings with which he had become acquainted from his reading, as well as to discover the "modern" trends in French architecture that were then fashionable in Paris. His decision to remodel his own home may date from this period. In 1794, following his service as the first U.S. Secretary of State (1790–1793), Jefferson began rebuilding hismanor house based on the ideas he had acquired in Europe. The remodeling continued throughout most of his presidency (1801–1809).
Jefferson added a center hallway and a parallel set of rooms to the structure, more than doubling its area. He removed the second full-height story from the original house and replaced it with amezzanine bedroom floor. The most dramatic element of the new design was an octagonaldome, which he placed above the West front of the building in place of a second-story portico. The room inside the dome was described by a visitor as "a noble and beautiful apartment," but it was rarely used—perhaps because it was hot in summer and cold in winter, or because it could only be reached by climbing a steep and narrow flight of stairs. The dome room has now been restored to its appearance during Jefferson's lifetime, with "Marsyellow" walls and a painted green floor, although safety regulations about use of the narrow stairs to the upper floors largely preclude visitors to Monticello from seeing the room.[7]
Monticello, along with the nearby University of Virginia, was designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 1987.
In 1803, President Jefferson appointedBenjamin Henry Latrobe as surveyor of public buildings in the United States, thus introducingGreek Revival architecture to the country for the first time. Latrobe went on to design a number of important public buildings inWashington, D.C., andPhiladelphia, including work on theUnited States Capitol and theBank of Pennsylvania.[8]
Even after Jefferson's style went out of vogue for other public buildings, it continued to have an influence on manyProtestant church designs on theEast Coast through the mid-20th century. The style is still employed on someSouthern college campuses, particularly in Virginia and thePeabody College campus ofVanderbilt University, and it has enjoyed a certain re-emergence among some newer 21st centuryevangelical church complexes.
TheUniversity of Mary Washington, previously the University of Virginia's college for women, is another primary example of Jefferson's architecture.
An example of Jeffersonian architecture outside the United States can be found in one of China's top universities,Tsinghua University inBeijing. The university's "Grand Auditorium" was designed with elements from the Jeffersonian architectural style in the early 20th century.
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