Poplar Forest: A Most Palladian Villa

Throughout his long architectural career, Thomas Jefferson considered Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio as his mentor, just as he considered Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture as his “Bible.” Jefferson’s principal well-known works—his rebuilt home Monticello and the University of Virginia—have represented certain Palladian influences. Jefferson’s initial architectural biographer, Fiske Kimball, stated about Jefferson and Palladio: “The preponderance of spiritual agreement between them [was] overwhelming.” The restoration of Jefferson’s retirement villa retreat, Poplar Forest, now provides a crucial missing link through which we can understand Kimball’s statement and evaluate an even closer Palladian affinity. Typically, buildings are labelled “Palladian” because they mimic exterior design features. Jefferson’s design for Poplar Forest comes much closer to the essence of Palladio’s works through a common holistic approach that integrated structure, function, and site. For Palladio, how the building was organized was as important as how it looked. To understand this affinity we can examine four aspects of the Poplar Forest design: Jefferson’s architectural education, the tradition of the classical and Renaissance villa, a system of design, and the use of ideological forms. Renaissance theories of architecture—based on the authority of antiquity, reason, and nature—are further reflections that explain the Palladian ideals exhibited at Poplar Forest.