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Thomas Jefferson's Architectural Design

At the end of his long career as President, diplomat, politician, political writer, inventor and architect Thomas Jefferson created a work that was the crowning achievement of his career. As an intellectual concept realized in his own architectural design, the University of Virginia is one of the greatest achievements in American architecture. Deriving his ideas for the buildings from classical architecture, Jefferson employed the ancient forms in a new manner that was suited to the times, the location, and the purposes for which he designed them. His conceptions did not, in the long run, turn out to be the influential force in architecture that might be expected -- his influence lay more in the area of principles than of style. But the University has preserved his original campus and it stands as a monument to his ideas and his talents. The central building in his complex was the library building which had a design derived from the Roman Pantheon, or Rotunda, built in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. By adjusting the proportions of his model to suit his own purposes Jefferson made an important contribution to the history of the Roman building's extensive influence and transformed its meanings for a new American setting. This important American building serves as the "symbolic and functional heart" of a university that was intended as a model of what America should and could accomplish. In looking back to the past Jefferson sought to bring what was best from that time into an America preparing for a great future.

Jefferson had been an amateur architect, in the sense of one who builds for the love of it rather than as a professional, since he was young. His ideas about architecture were formed prior to his service as ambassador to France, but they were confirmed by the conversation and sights of Europe. Jefferson despised the prevailing styles of architecture in America and believed the emerging nation ought to escape f...

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Thomas Jefferson's Architectural Design. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:44, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1695848.html