Monticello

President Thomas Jefferson called Monticello his "essay in architecture." Reflecting the genius and versatility of its creator, Jefferson's Monticello is a monument to a scrupulous interest in architecture, landscaping, agriculture, and domestic comforts. The remarkable house, one of America's most famous, is filled with ingenious devices and mementos of this revered founding father. The author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, Jefferson studied buildings in ancient Rome and began his dwelling atop the "Little Mountain" where he had played as a boy after leveling the top in 1768. Jefferson worked on Monticello for more than 40 years, altering and enlarging it as his taste developed, reflecting the pleasure he found in "putting up and pulling down." Before 1795 the house had a Palladian-influenced tripartite form with two-level porticoes. After seeing the work of Boullée and Ledoux in France, Jefferson returned to Monticello with his head full of new ideas, above all, about its dome, and an aversion to grand staircases which he believed took up too much room. When an extensive revision was finished in 1809, Monticello had become a 21-room amalgam of Roman, Palladian, and French architectural ideals, a unique statement by one of history's great individuals. Jefferson's attention to garden design paralleled his interest in architecture. Both ornamental and vegetable gardens, as well as two orchards, a vineyard, and an 18-acre "grove," or ornamental forest, were included in his landscape plans. Jefferson's detailed records and recent archeological discoveries have made possible an accurate recreation of his gardening scheme. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation has maintained Monticello as a place of pilgrimage for millions since 1923.