The Jeffersonian Ideal - Washington State University

The Jeffersonian Ideal
Reading Assignments for January 22nd
Read chapter 4 in City Life: “A Frenchman in New York” and try to
answer the following questions:
The chapter is about a Frenchman by the name of
Alexis de Tocqueville coming to the united states in the
mid 19th century and reporting on his impressions of the
country.
• What does de Tocqueville say about the Americans’ impression
of the city: does he think they like it or not and why?
• What does the author of the book say about what Thomas
Jefferson says about the city?
• At one point the author mentions a Vermont place called
Woodstock which is laid out around a “green.” What does this
“green” seem to represent; what role does it play in shaping the
plan and character of the city?
Let’s recap
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In the last lecture there was mention of the following
Tom Sawyer:
Fence/Cyclical Time/Youth
The first settlers:
leaving oppressive regimes
behind and desiring to live
by own principles.
The Plan of Philadelphia:
Penn’s design of four squares.
Williamsburg, VA:
Known for street set backs.
Savannah, GA:
The finely grained grid.
Central Park:
An attempt to retain a taste
of the country in the city.
Washington DC:
An interesting dichotomy
between bucolic setting
and axial planning.
Corporate Parks
Lawns as an expression of free
thinking.
RVs
The ultimate freedom machine
Baseball parks
Island of leisure reminiscent of
pastoral pastime.
The objectives of
this lecture
• To further elaborate on
the point that the built
environment in America
stems from a special
adherence to rural
principles, this time
looking at Thomas
Jefferson for insights, a
key contributor to
American history and
ideas.
The University of Virginia
Monticello: Jefferson’s Residence
Who was Thomas Jefferson?
• The 3rd president of the
United States
• Author of the
Declaration of
Independence
• Credited with the
“Louisiana Purchase”
which doubled the size
of the country
• Commissioned Lewis
and Clark to explore
and record the western
territory
• Architect of Monticello
and University of VA
Question for you
• How do you look at houses?
• What does the house represent for
you?
• How does our university match up with
UVA?
• Are there spaces in it that remind us of
the Jeffersonian ideals?
Another question I would like to ask you has to do
with Gated Communities: Do they reflect a desire
to capture the Jeffersonian ideal but in a modern
world?
The debate between Jefferson and
Alexander Hamilton
“I think our government will remain
virtuous for many centuries as long
as they leave it chiefly
agricultural…when they get piled
upon one another in large cities as
in Europe they will become
corrupt…” Jefferson
“It is proper to enumerate the
principle circumstances that
manufacturing establishment not
only occasion a positive
augmentation of the produce and
revenue but that they contribute
essentially to rendering them greater
than they could possibly be”
Hamilton
The view of the home in
Jefferson’s world
• That living by rural values
represented and still
represents a strategy by
which to develop and
sustain one’s moral
character.
• That a house is not
merely a source of shelter
but an expression of
independence and
invention.
• Transformation of self
and self-reliance.
• Rural living as a form of
education.
Domestic work vs.
factory work
• Jefferson advocated domestic
work over factory work and this
for the reason that factory ethic
is built on a hierarchy of
bosses who inevitably exploit
the laborer and divide him into
two personality:
one meant to address the
demands of work,
the other life outside
work.
• Domestic work on the other
hand is better in that it allows
the household direct access to
tangible needs and the ability
to navigate through the day
according to one’s own
schedule.
Machinery
• Jefferson was all for
machinery but not of the
kind that towered over
your head and was so
complex you were
constantly held hostage
to the technician.
• A machine that is simple
and perhaps invented by
the person who ends up
using it would be good in
that it empowers the
worker to have control of
his work station.
City vs. Country
• Not until it was clear that
America could not compete in
the world financially without
cities, did Jefferson relax his
opinion about this part of the
built environemnt.
• To him the city meant the rule
of the mob and living by the
exploitation of others.
• He preferred working with
people he had first hand
knowledge of and not among
the anonymous crowd.
Jefferson’s Vision
for the City
• In helping plan Washington
DC, Jefferson had made a
sketch showing small
courtyard-like spaces running
the course of several buildings.
• Here we see Jefferson’s
preference for spaces that
allow the individual the ability
to comprehend the setting in
which he or she finds
him/herself.
• In small spaces one could feel
oneself as part of a group,
make political statements that
can be heard and ultimately
act democratically.
Jefferson’s City
• Jefferson sought the kind
of space that would
empower the individual
• The formality of long axial
avenues meant for him a
reminder of political and
economic hierarchy
• Standing at the outset of
a long formal avenue
made the individual feel
diminished
• He would have probably
preferred Penn’s design
over L’Enfant’s
L’Enfant ‘s Washington DC
William Penn’s Philadelphia
The Jeffersonian Grid
• He sought to encourage
Americans to explore new
territory and live by the very
principles that he espoused
to.
• After the Louisiana Purchase
he commissioned Lewis and
Clark to explore the western
territories and survey it.
• To encourage others to
move west, he platted the
country using the grid system
in which land was divided
into 1X1mile plots.
• This way he gave distant
lands an address and the
beginning of a sense of
location.
Monticello and
University of VA
• Among his
contributions to the
built environment,
Monticello and UVA
stand as the most
important
Monticello
• Monticello for Jefferson
meant a demonstration of
his agrarian ideals.
• That character is built on
self-reliance and that selfreliance is the product of
independent labor.
• Monticello was in many
ways a productive
plantation/factory
employing slaves and
free individuals alike and
not simply a domestic
place.
Monticello in two stages
First Monticello shown in darkened
walls, started in 1769.
Renovation and additions to the
house were made starting in 1797.
Invention at
Monticello
• At Monticello Jefferson
would demonstrate how
by living by rural
principles one would not
have to live by rules of
the past but by one’s
own.
• Here everything from the
house to the machinery
used showed invention.
• The house was a blend of
styles, mixing ancient
Rome with French
Classical.
Influences of
Monticello
• Monticello also borrowed
from the work of the 16thC
Italian architect and
theorist: Andrea Palladio:
His Four Books of
Architecture.
• What Jefferson liked
about Villa Rotunda by
Palladio is the way it
responded to the
landscape; giving equal
response to all four sides.
• The landscape is to be
addressed in the round.
Villa Capra,
outside
Venice, Italy
by Andrea
Palladio
The front and back
lawns at Monticello
• The front and back lawns
represent for Jefferson near
iconic qualities.
• The story goes that in 1781 the
British had not yet finished with
the Americans and wanted to kill
their author of the declaration in
an attempt to stifle progress and
restore English rule.
• One of his compatriots, Jack
Jouett, got wind of the attack and
hurried to Jefferson and had it not
been for the separation that the
lawn allowed and which allowed
Jefferson to escape, Jefferson
would have been dead.
Interior novelty at
Monticello
• The interior of the house
showed an equal interest in
blending styles and working
with whim.
• Of particular importance is
Jefferson’s invention of the bed
inside the wall, becoming part
of the divider between
bedroom and office.
• His other important invention
has to do with the mechanical
workings of a clock located
above the front entryway and
which employs pulleys and
weights.
A desire for efficiency
at Monticello
• Part of Jefferson’s
interests in inventions
was his desire to make
his time more efficient
and the day more
productive.
• Two inventions show his
desire to keep his clothes
organized on the one
hand and his letters
duplicated on the other.
A polygraph machine invented by an
Englishman John Isaac Hawkins (1772
1855) and produced in America by
Charles Willson Peale (1741 1827)
Inventions and
Work at Monticello
• As part of his ideal
included labor and
economy, Jefferson
either invented or
modified certain tools
used in the plantation.
• He also designed and
with the help of his
master carpenter
slave, Hemings, build
furniture.
Work and
Independence
• To gain pure
independence,
Jefferson went to the
extent of setting up
his own factory for
nails and tools, which
actually was profitable
enough to pay for the
maintenance of the
house.
The gardens of
Monticello
• Jefferson was an avid
gardener, constantly
exploring with new
species of flowers,
vegetables and fruits.
• For him gardening was
both an art and a science,
collaborating with experts
on those terms.
UVA
• Beside cultivating one’s
land, Jefferson felt that
education was critical in the
pursuit of self-reliance.
• To be independent you had
to be creative and
intellectually able to
address the world of
unknowns and of conflict.
• Here education is a balance
between books and nature;
library on one end and open
vista on the other.
Balance between
Books and Nature
• To tip the balance in favor
of nature Jefferson
worked with perspective,
skewing the arms of the
arcades slightly inward
and toward the open end
of the lawn.
• He probably borrowed
this idea from
Michelangelo’s design of
Capitol Hill in Rome.
UVA and the
Lawn
• In his vision for the
education of the
individual; Jefferson
compared a university to
a village.
• Here the lawn plays an
important role in allowing
the “village green” symbol
to stand as the ground on
which ideas are shared
and debated.
Unity within
Hierarchy
• In pursuit of
democratic ideals;
Jefferson sought
expressions of unity.
• Unity between nature
and architecture.
• Unity between
professors and
students.
What can we take
from Jefferson
Ideal
• Even though he did
not invent the grid; we
do owe it to him the
appetite for expansion
• That our suburbs are
perhaps an
expression of the
desire for a planned
order but also for a
“green village”
How have we
neglected
Jefferson’s Ideals
• Jefferson believed in the
power of space to
transform individuals into
democratic citizens.
• With the unchecked
development of roads
and highways, excessive
unplanned expansion, we
may have annihilated the
potential of space for
citizenship; a place to
gather and get ahead
together