Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect

Book excerpt: Collaboration with the greatest botanists of his time, an instinctive humanitarianism, and a natural ingenuity in landscape design combined to make Thomas Jefferson a pioneer in American landscape architecture. Frederick D. Nichols and Ralph E. Griswold, in this close study of Jefferson's many notes, letters, and sketches, present a clear and detailed interpretation of his extraordinary accomplishments in the field. Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect investigates the many influences on--and of--the Jeffersonian legacy in architecture. Jefferson's personality, friendships, and convictions, complemented by his extensive reading and travels, clearly influenced his architectural work. His fresh approach to incorporating foreign elements into domestic designs, his revolutionary approach to relating the house to the surrounding land, and his profound influences on the architectural character of the District of Columbia are just a few of Jefferson's contributions to the American landscape. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maps, plans, and drawings, as well as pictures of the species of trees that Jefferson used for his designs, generously illustrate the engaging narrative in Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect.