Whenever Americans think of Thomas Jefferson, a number of images of him come to mind: author of the Declaration of Independence, ambassador, farmer, revolutionary, statesman, president, point man for the Louisiana Purchase. He is rightfully remembered and appreciated for all of his accomplishments. But I personally admire him for the contributions that he made to the architectural and building traditions of our country.
While representing the United States, Jefferson had toured Europe extensively. His travels always included famous buildings, palaces, and residences. As a self-taught student of architecture, he kept extensive notes and dimensional drawings of many of these structures, along with their architectural detailing, scale, and geometries. Jefferson’s notes carried his opinions about elements he favored as well as those he did not. His overall goal was to learn design and design practices from the architectural masters of Europe and extract applications of their work for use back in America.
Jefferson spent the better part of 40 years designing, building, re-designing, and remodeling Monticello, his home located near Charlottesville, Va. From the extensive historical records, diaries, writings, and architectural plans, historians have concluded that Jefferson considered his home a living laboratory to carry out his architectural ideas, theories, and practical design applications. He wanted to “get it right” in terms of satisfying his own standards. Time and money were usually irrelevant.
One of the many stories about Jefferson and his ongoing efforts at Monticello involved a significant change to an architectural detail. The circumstances and fallout surrounding that change bear lessons applicable to present-day architectural design and custom construction business practices.
Jefferson had been directing and supervising work that was being conducted in Monticello’s music parlor (which functioned much like the modern family room). His plans defined in great detail the wood species, mill pattern, and layout of the wood flooring that was to be an integral part of the music room. The wood flooring was to be a plank-style maple installed in a staggered joint, butt pattern. The wide planks were large by today’s standards and were to have a layout pattern similar to that found on the floor of any present-day high school gym basketball court. As the floor approached completion, Jefferson halted work and requested a change.
The tradesmen working on the floor were under Jefferson’s employment (most were slaves) and were accustomed to his eccentricities and proclivity to changing horses mid-stream. He now wanted the floor to be similar to a style he had seen during his tenure as ambassador to France. He would design an intricate floor to complement the exquisite angled-wall music room. A simple floor pattern would not do.
