According to the National Park Service, the Jefferson Memorial was built by architect John Russell Pope, who drew inspiration for the Neoclassical building from the historically-renowned Roman Pantheon (National Park Service Paragraph 2). John Russell Pope later died, and so architects Daniel P. Higgins and Otto R. Eggers took over the project (National Park Service Paragraph 1). The resemblance between the Jefferson Memorial and the Roman Pantheon is quite striking, and yet the overall design of the Jefferson Memorial is idiosyncratic in nature. The Jefferson Memorial takes from the Roman Pantheon the overall shape of the building, including the dome, ionic pillars, and even the coffers on the interior of the building. In many ways, the
