Poplar Forest : Thomas Jefferson's villa retreat
Publication Information
Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2023.
Physical Description
xx, 300 pages ; illustrations, maps ; 28 cm
Summary
"Poplar Forest is one of two personal residences that Thomas Jefferson designed for himself, the other (of course) being Monticello. Despite its audacious design-it was the first octagonal residence in America-and the fact that is one of the very few extant Jeffersonian structures, Poplar Forest is not nearly so well-known today as its sibling seventy miles to the northeast. Travis McDonald, director of architectural restoration at Poplar Forest, situates the site in its rightful position as a historically important Virginia house, and documents its story as central to Jefferson's life and approach to architecture, with due consideration of the enslaved community at his western retreat"--
Contents
- The retreat
- Thomas Jefferson's education as architect and builder
- Designing a retreat
- The construction saga
- Landscapes of use and ornament
- Retired life at Poplar Forest
- A retirement hobby
- Epilogue
- Afterword : Jefferson in our time
- Appendix A : Chronology
- Appendix B : Jeffersonian elements and materials
- Appendix C : Jefferson's typology of octagon designs.