Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello begins with the architecture of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia. The book describes the story of Monticello architecture, an inside look at the house, the furnishings, the gardens and the plantation. The authors of this book are William L. Beiswanger, Peter J. Hatch, Lucia C. Stanton, Susan R. Stein. These four members are part of Monticello’s Scholarly staff. They are all experts in their disciplines, have published a wide variety of books and scholarly articles, and lecture all over the United states and overseas. While deciding a book to review the one topic that seemed interesting was Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Jefferson's Monticello really fascinated me because
…show more content…
Jefferson first started writing his essay in 1768, at the age of 25. In this chapter, Jefferson's original sketches of Monticello are illustrated. The sketches showed how Jefferson added and removed some parts of his home. The dome on Monticello was the first one on an American house in 1800. Jefferson got this idea of a dome from an ancient Temple of Vesta in Rome. Jefferson decided to uniquely connect the “Appendix” (bedroom), the cabinet (study), and the book room. By doing this it made an L shaped suite. In Jefferson's nineteenth foot long chamber, he decided to include the “Iconic entablature” from the Roman Temple known as the Fortuna Virilis. The chamber is lighted using natural sunlight, accomplished by the creation of a skylight as well as a triple sash …show more content…
The entrance hall, is desgined by “strange furniture on the walls” including maps, sculpture, paintings antlers, Native American artifacts, and minerals. Jefferson's described the entrance hall as a museum, where he wanted to educate his visitors while they wanted waited to meet him and the family. The parlor was a social pace where the family would gather, invite guests, read, hear music, play games and write letters. Marquis de Chastellux described this as a “large and lofty salon, or drawing room.” The dining room and tea room was important to Jefferson, because this room was where visitors were entertained at break, dinner, and tea. This room had many dumbwaiters, where food platters would sit. These were placed between dinners so visitors could serve themselves. The Sitting room was a private space for Randolph and was also used as Mrs. Randolph’s office and schoolroom. Each of the guest rooms were named by the person who most occupied the room. The Portuguese botanist José Correia da Serra, visited Monticello 7 times between 1812-1820, while he was the minister for Portugal plenipotentiary to the United States. The guest room was called “Correia’s Room.” The North Octagonal Room was nicknamed “Mr. Madison’s Room.” James Madison and Dolley Madison, were the two most frequent visitors to Monticello. The guest room had a triple-sash window, like many first floor rooms had. When the
Jefferson first started writing his essay in 1768, at the age of 25. In this chapter, Jefferson's original sketches of Monticello are illustrated. The sketches showed how Jefferson added and removed some parts of his home. The dome on Monticello was the first one on an American house in 1800. Jefferson got this idea of a dome from an ancient Temple of Vesta in Rome. Jefferson decided to uniquely connect the “Appendix” (bedroom), the cabinet (study), and the book room. By doing this it made an L shaped suite. In Jefferson's nineteenth foot long chamber, he decided to include the “Iconic entablature” from the Roman Temple known as the Fortuna Virilis. The chamber is lighted using natural sunlight, accomplished by the creation of a skylight as well as a triple sash …show more content…
The entrance hall, is desgined by “strange furniture on the walls” including maps, sculpture, paintings antlers, Native American artifacts, and minerals. Jefferson's described the entrance hall as a museum, where he wanted to educate his visitors while they wanted waited to meet him and the family. The parlor was a social pace where the family would gather, invite guests, read, hear music, play games and write letters. Marquis de Chastellux described this as a “large and lofty salon, or drawing room.” The dining room and tea room was important to Jefferson, because this room was where visitors were entertained at break, dinner, and tea. This room had many dumbwaiters, where food platters would sit. These were placed between dinners so visitors could serve themselves. The Sitting room was a private space for Randolph and was also used as Mrs. Randolph’s office and schoolroom. Each of the guest rooms were named by the person who most occupied the room. The Portuguese botanist José Correia da Serra, visited Monticello 7 times between 1812-1820, while he was the minister for Portugal plenipotentiary to the United States. The guest room was called “Correia’s Room.” The North Octagonal Room was nicknamed “Mr. Madison’s Room.” James Madison and Dolley Madison, were the two most frequent visitors to Monticello. The guest room had a triple-sash window, like many first floor rooms had. When the