Thomas Jefferson's Monticello - American History, 1493-1945

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Oldham discussing building work at Monticello

8 June 1803

View the letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Oldham discussing building work at Monticello in the resource

Dated 8 June 1803, this document is a letter written by the then President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), to James Oldham, a joiner. In this letter Jefferson discusses the progress of construction work at his plantation, Monticello (Italian for ‘Little Mountain’), in Albemarle County, Virginia. He asks Oldham, for instance, whether ‘riven prime slabs [would] make a better moveable cover for the plaistered [sic] part of the house, than linen?’ and writes that ‘we must not permit the plaistering [sic] to get wet on any account’.

Although this letter dates from 1803, Jefferson began planning his plantation home as early as 1767. Inspired by the neoclassical designs of European architects such as the Italian-born Giacomo Leoni (1686-1746), construction work began on a small neoclassical villa in 1769, which was completed by the time Jefferson went on a diplomatic mission to Europe in 1784. Twelve years later Jefferson set out to remodel and extend Monticello, and the project was substantially completed in 1809. The two reasons usually offered for extending and remodelling the property are first, that Jefferson needed more room for his and his family’s personal comfort; and second, that he wished to incorporate the classical features of the grand and ornate buildings he saw whilst in Europe. Following the remodel, Monticello included 43 rooms which were crowned by a central octagonal dome.

A self-taught architect, Jefferson once described Monticello as his "essay on architecture" and saw the house’s construction as an opportunity to apply Old World classical styles for functional purposes in the New World. Indeed, Monticello was to be no extravagance. It primarily served as a working estate and an experimental home where new ideas could be tested for the benefit of the republic. Space-saving devices such as a bed that could be raised to the ceiling and hidden staircases were installed, for instance, while an icehouse was built directly underneath the main house.

Jefferson’s philosophy was too idiosyncratic to have any major influences on the architectural style and layout of American homes, but his admiration of classical design proved to be extremely popular for America’s public buildings. Jefferson’s Rotunda at the University of Virginia (completed in 1826), for instance, was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, while his design for Virginia’s State Capitol (completed in 1788) was based on the Maison Carrée, an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, France. Together, these buildings, with their stately columns and lavish pediments, embodied the hopes of a young nation which sought to create a modern Roman republic in the New World. By popularizing classical design, Jefferson helped develop the Federal style, which became an extremely fashionable architectural form in America during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Monticello’s construction was one of Thomas Jefferson’s first architectural projects and because of this it serves as a symbol of colonial American nation building. The house’s significance in American history is evidenced by its inclusion on both the back of five-cent coins and the United Nation’s prestigious World Heritage list of protected buildings.

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello