Thomas Jefferson, the architect

Thomas Jefferson's works opened a new way in the culture, architecture and politics of the new democratic country over the sea, the United States. Colonists had to found their own traditions. The leaders after the Revolution had the duty to found a new nation, a new culture. One of those leaders was Thomas Jefferson. He was a many-sided personality, a real Renaissance man. Architecture was for him only a delight, he did not have formal architectural education, but the works resulted were like those of a professional. In this thesis I will examine the architectural works of Thomas Jefferson through two works. We can consider these two works as the representatives of two types of architecture, Monticello, a private building, and the University of Virginia, a public building. I will examine the way Jefferson developed from an owner to an artist of architecture. I will examine the factors that influenced Jefferson's architecture and the relation of his architecture to European and to antique architecture. I will prove that Thomas Jefferson was the founder of the distinctive American architecture and through the elements used at first by him in the American architecture we can consider him the innovator of this architecture.