Introduction Credits:
Randolph H. Lytton, Pim van den Assum

Introduction Date:

Introduction Text:
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial, located on The Tidal Basin, was built between 1938 and 1943. It is a later creation of John Russell Pope, who also helped design the classically inspired Brazilian Embassy (McCormick House) c. 1910, the Scottish Rite Temple in 1915, the Meridian House in 1922, Constitution Hall in 1929, the National City Christian Church in 1930, the American Pharmacists Association building in 1933, the National Archives Building in 1935, and the National Gallery of Art (West Building) in 1941. Rudolph Evans sculpted Thomas Jefferson’s statue which dominates the center space. Restorations have been carried out in 1996 and 2000. The concept of the Jefferson Memorial is grounded in the City Beautiful classical movement first seen in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893. It appears to be directly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, but was most likely modeled on William Kent’s 1734 Ionic Temple of Ancient Virtue, a garden-pavilion in Stowe, England that Thomas Jefferson visited. (Scott & Lee, p. 102) The memorial is encircled with smooth Ionic columns with Jefferson’s statue as the centerpiece. This neo-pantheon form is also mirrored in Jefferson’s home at Monticello, Virginia and in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia.