{"nrhp_refnum":"66000826","name":"Monticello","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 mi. S of Charlottesville on VA 53","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville","county":"Albemarle County","state":"VA","lat":38.00125918800006,"lon":-78.4308798349841,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-12-19","areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Monticello is the mansion and estate of Thomas Jefferson, about 2 miles southeast of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia. Jefferson began building it to his own design in 1770 and enlarged it between 1796 and 1809.","why_significant":"It was the home of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third President, who designed the entire complex, lived there during his most productive years and died there in 1826. The house is also cited as a leading example of Classic Revival design that influenced the Early Republican or Federal style.","narrative":"Monticello is the hilltop mansion and estate where Thomas Jefferson lived, worked and died in 1826, set on a leveled \"little mountain\" two miles southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson designed the red brick house himself, starting in 1770, and rebuilt and enlarged it between 1796 and 1809 in a more Roman manner influenced by his years in France. A low dome, Doric porticoes, a balustraded roofline and a formal plan with terraced passages and small pavilions give it a restrained, horizontal look. Inside, Jefferson's inventions include dumbwaiters, folding doors, a duplicate-writing machine and a weight-driven clock. The property matters because of its owner, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, served as third President, completed the Louisiana Purchase and founded the University of Virginia. It is also valued as an influential work of early American neoclassical architecture. Later owners restored it, and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation has held it since 1923 as a museum.","period_of_significance":"1772-1826","architect_builder":"Thomas Jefferson (designer)","architectural_style":"Classic Revival; Early Republican/Federal influence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and unaltered on its original site; occupied and open to the public as a museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.930901-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/6789/41678966/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/66000826_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000826/f582cd973d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000826/f582cd973d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"YF12s","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_2010-10-29.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">YF12s</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_2010-10-29.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07001236","name":"Southern Albemarle Rural Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/southern-albemarle-rural-historic-district-07001236/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678966","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q199618"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/albemarle-county/monticello-66000826/"}