page_title: Architecture of the United States
section_title: Thomas Jefferson
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of the United States / Architecture for a new nation / Thomas Jefferson
caption_attribution_description: Thomas Jefferson's design of the "Rotunda", the library at the heart of the University of Virginia. "South Elevation of the Rotunda, begun 1818, completed March 29, 1819. Ink and pencil drawing." (according to [www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/object.html Library of Congress])
context_page_description: The architecture of the United States demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over two centuries of independence and former Spanish and British rule.
  Architecture in the United States has been shaped by many internal and external factors and regional distinctions. As a whole it represents a rich eclectic and innovative tradition.
context_section_description: Thomas Jefferson, who was the third president of the United States between 1801 and 1809, was a scholar in many domains, including architecture. Having journeyed several times in Europe, he hoped to apply the formal rules of palladianism and of antiquity in public and private architecture and master planning. He contributed to the plans for the University of Virginia, which began construction in 1817. The project was completed by Benjamin Latrobe applying Jefferson's architectural concepts. The university library is situated under a The Rotunda covered by a dome inspired by the Pantheon of Rome. The combination created a uniformity thanks to the use of brick and wood painted white. For the new Virginia State Capitol building (1785–1796) in Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson was inspired by the ancient Rome Maison Carrée in Nîmes, but chose the Ionic order for its columns. A man of the Age of Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson had participated in the emancipation of New World architecture by expressing his vision of an art-form in service of democracy. He contributed to developing the Federal style in his country by combining European Neoclassical architecture and American democracy.
  Thomas Jefferson also designed the buildings for his plantation Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. Monticello is a tribute to the Neo Palladian style, modeled on the Hôtel de Salm in Paris, that Jefferson saw while the ambassador to France. Work on Monticello commenced in 1768 and modifications continued until 1809. This American variation on Palladian architecture borrowed from British and Irish models and revived the tetrastyle portico with Doric columns. This interest in Roman elements appealed in a political climate that looked to the ancient Roman Republic as a model
caption: Plan (ca. 1819) for the Rotunda of the University of Virginia, based on the Pantheon in Rome.
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