Thomas Jefferson’s Architectural Drawings

Architecture first captured Thomas Jeffersons imagination while he was a student in Williamsburg, when he bought his first architectural book from an old cabinetmaker. Architecture is my delight, he was quoted as saying in later years, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favorite amusements.

This fascinating book by Frederick Doveton Nichols is a compilation of original architectural drawings done by Thomas Jefferson. The book includes drawings of the First Version of Monticello, the Final Drawings of Monticello, The University of Virginia Rotunda and Pavilions, the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, and Poplar Forest.

A commentary at the beginning of the book contains an overview of Jeffersons architectural development and a check list at the end of the book is arranged in alphabetical order by places or buildings with the current location of the drawings. 49 pages, softcover.