Thomas Jefferson designed and founded the University of Virginia in 1819. He considered it to be one of his greatest achievements. Even on his tombstone, Jefferson had inscribed “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia”. While in Charlottesville, we made sure to stop by and see UVA’s unique Jeffersonian architecture.
We started our tour of UVA at the Rotunda. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson and modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. It represents the “authority of nature and power of reason”. The Rotunda has been the inspiration for many similar buildings at universities like Duke, MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing. I even posted about it here back in 2006 when I was a student at Tsinghua.
The oval rooms were used for classes and meetings.
Cole delivering a speech from the pulpit in the Dome Room.
The Dome Room housed the university library which was selected one book at a time by Jefferson himself.
The Oculus and white ceiling of the Dome Room:
Columns with capitals encircle the entire room:
Jefferson loved natural light and so does Cole:
The Lawn (with the Rotunda in the background) is the center of Jefferson’s Academical Village:
On the steps to the Rotunda:
Pavilion VII, also called the Colonnade Club is the oldest building on the Lawn.
Pavilion X with Greek-style columns and Doric cornice:
Jefferson’s wavy ‘serpentine walls’ look cool while also economizing on bricks. Because they are made just one brick thin, they cannot be built in a straight line without buttresses otherwise they would easily fall over. Cole has decided to build one of these walls in his garden one day.
The East and West Ranges behind the gardens on each side of the Lawn are made up of 54 student rooms which used to be run by three separate hotels and inn keepers. Now the rooms are used as office and meeting spaces for the university.
The flag at half staff in front of the Rotunda:
