Monticello

Monticello [Ital.,=little mountain], estate, 640 acres (259 hectares), central Va., near Charlottesville; home of Thomas Jefferson for 56 years. The mansion, which he designed, was begun in 1770 on property inherited from his father. The building materials—stone, brick, lumber, and nails—were prepared on the estate, and most of the construction work was carried out by Jefferson's artisan slaves. By 1772, when Jefferson took his bride there to live, part of the house was ready for occupancy; for many years afterward, he added to the building. The house is one of the earliest examples of the American classic revival. Not long after Jefferson's death, his daughter, unable to maintain the property, sold it, retaining only the family burial plot in which Jefferson is interred. Monticello was later bought by Uriah P. Levy, a naval officer, who bequeathed it to "the people of the United States" ; but his heirs successfully contested the will. By 1879, Jefferson M. Levy was in full ownership, but he sold Monticello in 1923 to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. Dedicated as a national shrine in 1926, and extensively renovated during the next 30 years, the estate was opened to the public in 1954.

Monticello. This eighteenth‐century Virginia mansion manifests the evolving ideals of its designer and original owner, Thomas Jefferson, who began constructing Monticello in 1770 and continued to work on it for the rest of his life. Selecting an elevated site in Charlottesville, Jefferson gained impressive angles of approach and splendid views. Monticello, or “Little Mountain,” originally comprised a two‐story central section with two flanking, one‐story wings. Jefferson distinguished Monticello with rigorous classical porticoes on the east and west elevations and replaced the usual scattering of outbuildings with two L‐shaped service wings connected to the north and south ends of the house at its cellar level.

The appearance of the house was altered considerably in 1796 by major changes that reflected Jefferson's experiences as a revolutionary, nation‐builder, and diplomat. The revised Monticello was less diagrammatically classical than the original. Jefferson replaced the second‐story library with America's first dome. He also addressed the pressing issues of civic obligation and private autonomy in the new republic by doubling Monticello's plan and differentiating public and private zones of activity.

Monticello was Jefferson's quintessential essay in architecture. The opposing porticoes of the first Monticello inspired his design for the Virginia state capitol, the first temple‐form public building in America. Monticello's rigorous geometry anticipated Jefferson's octagonal plan for Poplar Forest, the Bedford County retreat he built for himself in 1806. The dome, the hierarchical arrangement of spaces, and the U‐shaped configuration of house and service wings adumbrated his scheme for the University of Virginia. All of Jefferson's architecture reflects his belief in the inherent legibility of correct architecture and his conviction that fine buildings inspire to higher goals all who see and use them.
See also Early Republic, Era of the; Mount Vernon; Revolution and Constitution, Era of.

Bibliography

Jack McLaughlin , Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder, 1988.
William L. Beiswanger, ed., Monticello in Measured Drawings, 1998.

Camille Wells