Monticello, Charlottesville, VA Print

Monticello, “Little Mountain,” was home to Thomas Jefferson from 1770 to 1826. It was also the architectural masterpiece of the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States. Renowned as one of America’s first and finest architects, Thomas Jefferson created, rebuilt, and revised the house throughout his long life. The home reflects the personality of Jefferson, a Renaissance man and one of the Founding Fathers. Jefferson began building Monticello in 1769 on the plantation that he inherited from his father. Located on top of a hill, the original eight-room main house was still incomplete in the 1780s. Regardless, the sophistication of Jefferson’s design impressed European visitors. Closely following the designs of Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio, amazingly, Jefferson knew architecture only through 1796, Jefferson began a renovation of Monticello which he finished in 1809. The original eight room Palladian villa, with its tall two-story portico, was transformed into a 21-room house designed in the fashionable Neoclassical style.