Thomas Jefferson and Architecture

Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743–d. 1826), the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, is widely recognized as one of the founding voices of American democracy. He was also a celebrated Enlightenment thinker reading in and even contributing to bourgeoning fields of inquiry, including botany and other natural sciences, agricultural improvement, archaeology, political economies, modern languages, and many others he deemed “useful.” Often characterized as the first American architect, he was deeply engaged in the project of architecture both as a private interest and as a public necessity; a well-educated citizenry, he believed, was one conversant in the fundamentals of the arts, most especially in architecture. Jefferson’s commitment to race hierarchies meant that such a citizenry excluded people of color. His most important public designs were those for the nascent democracy in his home state of Virginia—the capitol building in Richmond and the University of Virginia—but his contributions to architecture and planning of the federal city of Washington, DC, are also important. Monticello, the residence on his home plantation, and Poplar Forest, his retreat villa also on a plantation, each consumed much of the remainder of his architectural energies, besides consulting with peers on the designs of their own houses. Although he had no formal education in architecture, he was very familiar with those books—most especially Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture, but others as well—that offered training in the fundamentals of the classical tradition. The substantial collection of Jefferson’s drawings betrays his dependence on accepted antique and modern models and adhering to established principles of order and proportion in the creation of new forms. He declared disinterest in aesthetic theory and his highest priority in his architectural design was to offer rightly proportioned and detailed models for an American audience he found lacking in taste. To that end, Jefferson played a critical role in laying the foundations of architecture as a discipline in the new nation. He corresponded with all the most important architects working in the new United States: Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Benjamin Latrobe, and William Thornton, among others. His influence also extended to many younger designers and builders; Jefferson mentored Robert Mills, often recognized as the first American-born professional architect, and he also played a key role in training William Blackburn and other prolific builders in early-19th-century Virginia. The bulk of his architectural drawings can be found in the collections of the University of Virginia and the Massachusetts Historical Society.