1/ Thomas Jefferson’s House, 1769–1784
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While the look of the plantation villa was traditional, its technological side was revolutionary. The many engineering novelties included a flush toilet, dumb-waiter, a letter-copying device (a muscle-powered Xerox machine) and much else.
Thomas Jefferson, an American aristocrat, diplomat and president, was the architect of a single building on which he worked throughout his life. The house was his Virginia mansion, the famed Monticello.
In 1815 Thomas Jefferson sold his library, the largest one in the United States, to the Congress. In 1851, two-thirds of his books were lost in the fire. Today you can find other copies of those publications at the library of Monticello.
1/ Thomas Jefferson’s House, 1769–1784
Book Room © Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello / Robert Lautman
The armchair, 1800–1810. It belonged to Thomas Jefferson, but no one knows where exactly it was placed in the room and how it was used by its owner. Rumor has it that Jefferson sat in it while performing his duties as vice president.
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.
A card index can be found in one of the drawers of the octahedral table.
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
2/ JOHN SOANE’S HOUSE
1792–1824
© Gareth Gardner Sir John Soane’s Museum
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.
© Wikipedia
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
South Drawing Room © Derry Moore / Sir John Soane’s Museum
Breakfast Room © Derry Moore / Sir John Soane’s Museum