Readymag template: Portico

1/ Thomas Jefferson’s House, 1769–1784

Book Room © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello / Robert Lautman

This was, in short, the prototypical home of a mad scientist. One can imagine Jefferson torturing James Bond in one of the mansion’s great cellar spaces.

Architects’ own homes, especially in the 20th century, have been laboratories of invention. Jefferson’s home is the first in this line.

1/ Thomas Jefferson’s House — Gallery

Jefferson’s bedroom © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello / Robert Lautman

Cabinet © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello / Robert Lautman

North Octagonal Room, Madison’s Room © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello

Dining room © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello / Philip Beaurline

thomas jefferson’s house, north octagonal madison‘s room

2/ JOHN SOANE’S HOUSE

1792–1824

2/ John Soane’s House, 1792–1824

John Soane is the most unclassical of all the architects of Classicism, and his home itself is the strangest of all his creations. He gradually expanded the house as he bought up neighboring properties and reworked them.

The result is a crowded and bewildering labyrinth of rooms of varying dimensions and shapes, oddly placed doors, shafts between floors and natural light streaming from unseen openings in every direction, including from below.

2/ John Soane’s House, 1792–1824

Dome Area © Derry Moore / Sir John Soane’s Museum

Like every enlightened English gentleman of his time, Soane was a collector of antiques and paintings, and it was to house and display them that he kept adding new structures to the house.

The displays so cover the walls of the tiny rooms that you can hardly pass through without bumping an ear or a nose into a Roman marble.

2/ John Soane’s House — Gallery

The Model Room © Gareth Gardner / Sir John Soane’s Museum

Soane's Bath Room © Gareth Gardner / Sir John Soane’s Museum