A Concept House, aka Monticello

Memorial obelisk of Jefferson, designed and written by himself.

Visiting Monticello, Jefferson’s home in Virginia, promotes reflection, particularly in this 250th anniversary year of our country.

As you most likely think of him, Thomas Jefferson was a big concept person. As he wrote for his own memorial obelisk, he was the “Author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the Father of the University of Virginia”. He was an extremely visionary person, laying out foundational concepts for our country. His words, most notably “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” inspired people around the world to fight for Democracy as well as women and people of color in the USA. He boldly laid out his vision of America’s independence (along with a long list of grievances to justify it), which he earnestly imagined coming to be. Looking back at Jefferson, it seems he wrote, designed, and lived in this idealized and conceptualized notion of what he believed the United States would become. In the short term, he didn’t seem to overly concern himself with discordant details and contradictions, such as the enslavement of people, although it appears he was highly aware of these contradictions. Perhaps he thought that the slavery issue (and other subjects) were to be tinkered with later…

Round weights from a large clock above the front door that move lower to the ground everyday, eventually traveling through holes made into the floor.

At the same time, this same slavery contradiction enabled Jefferson to build, run, and experiment with his own physical house, Monticello, which was indeed a spectacular concept house. He originally had it built in a more traditional version for the time in America. Then, after spending time in Paris, he redesigned the house based on inspirations there, most notably adding the famous dome. Again, he did not become overly concerned with the details–if the spectacular clock with its weights hanging down didn’t fit in the front room, no problem, he had holes cut into the floor down into a lower level of the house, so that they could complete their journey of time through the week. Overall, there was a lot of tinkering done on this house. According to our guide, it was worked on for over 21 years, with Jefferson referring to it as “my essay in Architecture.”

Steve hanging out with a founding father on the grounds of Monticello.

It is inspiring to ponder this author, dreamer, and one of the fathers of our country, who was also comfortable tinkering with all, even his own faults. It seems an important lesson to remember!