East Portico Columns

From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

During Thomas Jefferson's lifetime, natural stone was very difficult to find in the area. Most stone was imported from Europe precut, and thus was very expensive. Despite this rarity, Jefferson was able to acquire and quarry stone from his own land. Because stone was so uncommon in America, it was also extremely difficult to find competent masons. However, Jefferson was able to find indentured servant and later free worker, William Rice, who was very skilled with stone. Rice cut and shaped the stone, creating four columns, for which he was paid the sizable amount of ten pounds per column.^[1]

In building his home, Thomas Jefferson was influenced by Italian architect, Andrea Palladio. Because of this impact Palladio had on him, Jefferson's architectural style is Neoclassical in nature. Jefferson had Palladio-inspired, Doric columns created for Monticello. Roman Doric columns are characterized by very plain, non-fluted shafts, round capitals topped with a square, and a square base.^[2] Columns of the Doric design are the oldest, and simplest of the Orders. Even though Jefferson usually followed Palladio's style, he went against Palladio's rule of creating a larger gap between columns framing the doorway which emphasized the entrance, and instead had his columns erected equidistance apart.^[3]

Although these four columns can now be seen on the East Portico at Monticello, they were used earlier at the original house. Thomas Jefferson decided to salvage the columns when he began remodeling his home in 1796.^[4] He extended the eastern side of Monticello and wanted the columns reassembled and raised on the new portico. However, when disassembling the columns from their original location, the shafts and the bases were not marked, making it nearly impossible to make them one again. It took workers over two years to fit the stone columns together perfectly at their new location. The workers' efforts can be seen today at the joints of the columns where there is evidence of wear and tear.^[5] Because of these chips, Jefferson ordered the joints to be filled with mortar, and later painted to resemble marble.^[6] The columns are the only part of the early house found on the remodeled, eastern section of Monticello. Everything else was built during the making of the new edition.^[7]

After all the frustration felt by Jefferson in the making of these columns, he decided to make the six columns for the Western Portico out of brick, covered in stucco, which were made to look like stone.^[8] Because of this decision, the four columns of the East Portico are the only ones made of stone that can be found at Monticello. Although they were painted white in the late nineteenth century, the columns have recently been restored to the original, marble-like paint job ordered by Jefferson during his remodeling of Monticello.^[9]

Footnotes

1. ↑ Jack McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: the Biography of a Builder (New York: H. Holt, c.1988), 69.
2. ↑ William L. Beiswanger, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 34.
3. ↑ William Howard Adams, Jefferson's Monticello (New York: Abbeville Press, c.1983), 55.
4. ↑ William L. Beiswanger, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 8.
5. ↑ Jack McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: the Biography of a Builder (New York: H. Holt, c.1988),286-88.
6. ↑ Ibid, 317-18.
7. ↑ William Howard Adams, Jefferson's Monticello (New York: Abbeville Press, c.1983), 109.
8. ↑ Jack McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: the Biography of a Builder (New York: H. Holt, c.1988), 332.
9. ↑ William Howard Adams, Jefferson's Monticello (New York: Abbeville Press, c.1983), 59.