Thomas Jefferson, Architect: The Built Legacy of Our Third President

by Hugh Howard

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was also its first great architect. The Jeffersonian Classical style has been so influential that, along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson, Jefferson is one of the three most recognized architects in American history. Although never formally trained as an architect, Jefferson intensively studied the architecture of Paris when he resided there as minister to France and read extensively on classical architecture, particularly Palladio's Four Books on Architecture, all of which gave him a firm footing in the classical tradition.

Monticello, his own home, was constantly redesigned by Jefferson during his life time, and he referred to it as his essay in architecture. The University of Virginia, which he founded and conceived the architecture for, is perhaps the greatest campus of any American university and certainly one of this country's greatest public spaces anywhere. Both of these are well served by the beautiful panoramic photographs in this volume, which show them in the landscape they are situated in, an integral part of Jefferson's design. Less well known, but included here, is the balance of Jefferson's work as an the Virginia State Capitol and over a dozen private homes which still stand today. Illustrated with splendid color photography by the same author-photographer team that created Rizzoli's Wright for Wright, this is the first volume to combine all the extant work of Jefferson.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Architecture, Art, Politics

204 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 2003

Reviews

[Tim Jarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a used bookstore find. There are better books on Monticello and the Academical Village, but the chapters on the Virginia Capitol and the private houses that Jefferson may or may not have designed were worth the price of admission. Nice photography too.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains stunningly beautiful photographs and easy to read text. The book focuses on Monticello, Poplar Forest, the Virginia Capital building, the UVA Academic Village, and other buildings/homes inspired by Jefferson.

[Mark Einselen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great study of Thomas Jefferson's architectural endeavors. Jefferson's adaption of classical forms and updated them for his time shows how established principles of architecture can inform our own modern context.

[Trenare · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, but it has nice photos.