Actually involved. Get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word on the Nations Capital to wherever you are. It is the opinion that matters the most. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan powered by cable. Thank you all for coming this evening. I want to welcome you. I have the privilege of being president and ceo of the foundation and we are so happy to have you here tonight. Our third series, a third of our series tonight. These informal events are intended to offer quinces of the United States history as it relates to Andrew Jackson america and enjoy some way which i see you are all taking advantage of. History is better. T [laughter] history is revealed so november 2001 marks 2021 bicentennial of andrew and Rachel Jackson in the sun future jackson junior came into the newlyly constructed ho. While significantly it was sandra from the twostory house they lived in for the prior 17 years. The question is, why did the jacksons choose to disrupt this type of house . Iz beyond functional considerations, what did it symbolize to them . How did it position them in the community and how did it express the families desperation . Tonight we are honored to help doctor kevin murphy is a stevens speaker. Doctor murphy is to chair communities and professor and chair of the department of history of art and architecture at vanderbilt university. He will explore the history of early president ial Plantation Homes and with the buildings symbolize to the owners and what they mean to us today. Doctor movie grew up in the massachusetts area and hold an undergraduate degree, a masters in Historic Preservation from Boston University and his phd from theve university of chicago and art, architecture and preservation. Areas of particular interest are 19th century, american architecture and various styles in the periods when they were popular. Doctor murphy credits growing up around Historic Buildings in the northeast stimulating his interest in architectural history of preservation. He called it just up the road from here. Bfollowing doctor murphys presentation, there will be a time for questions and answers. If you would like to ask please step to the mic here in the middle of the room because we are honored to have cspan tonight filming this event. Please how is your cell phone so you do not broadcast across america in a few weeks. Please join with me in welcoming doctor kevin murphy. [applause] thank you for the generous introduction. Normallyly i wouldnt comment about the introduction itself except that you credited my phd to the university of chicago, it was actually northwestern. Since we are such rivals, i feel i have to say that i was on the north side. Anyway, i am very happy to be here. As you said, i am the neighbor of theth village but i dont thk of myself as an expert in her vintage but other president ial houses so earlier examples in making about the building which is accurate here so control there we go. Okay. A groupup of four buildings, all of them associated with u. S. President s. We have not morning, the home of george washington. So a lot of them are virginia, they are residents with the u. S. President , they are neoclassical in the sense that they look back to tradition of ancient greek and ancient rome built upon the interpretations of those that have been made over centuries and they are plantations where enslaved population far outnumbers the population of free white people so what i want to do is connect on the paradoxical fact that these are plantations but also homes of spokesmen for political freedom, religious freedom we have in our history and at the same time i want to address the fact that they are referred to architectural traditions in very different ways. The understanding of the plantation. Mmbesides the political and socl positions, they were obsessive builders especially washington, jefferson in the process of being renovated for decades. Especially jefferson and the deepest, famous for always living in a construction site. However, washington was not so much invested in architecture, did not think of himself in the way that jefferson did still deeply concerned with the design of his house and its furnishings. It is incredibly expensive billing materials from abroad. It arrived in numbers and culminated in this building. This was referred to this. The log cabin wouldf have been typical of the way most people live in the 18th century, all but a tiny fraction of people live in houses one and two rooms made out of wood and do not have foundations so most of them have disappeared so what we are left with an representative in these houses and went Something Like not morning would have been unspeakably huge. Would have been like ten mansions today because it was so elaborate and flourished in the context of the way people lived. I want to Say Something about where the design comes from but i also want to know a couple of bizarre things it did. You notice here you have this floating cable, this does not line up with the doors which is very and classical to. You would want the door filtered under the cable to have when no space evenly on the other side and have lined up but because its built in stages, its impossible so washington built the house over the course of time and it is this thought which is incumbent upon at the time in the way that theer elements were distributed, be very carefulno here. So that is one thing. There is an aspiration to what is not totally realized because of the way it unfolded which is how most projects unfold. The other thing i want to show you is the group a lot on the roof which is in him domestic feature, not something typically found on a houses. Washingtons aspiration was to make a resident but it also has a public aspect, more than just the house of somebody of course and hopefully there we go. The other place it would appear, the Governors Palace in the colonial capital which washington would have known where this signaled in the resident. So echo that feature in the design of the house but other respects is between himself and the colonial monument which is something jefferson was educated. They were attempting to establish american architecture that was new classical and drew examples but creating a distance for colonial architecture and what revolutionary period. You have use of the common, those of you who know virginia know it is to use extensively but also it is very familiar to british people. Material of london and the british settlement of the material associated with the colonial. So one thing i want to emphasize is the idea of difference and distinction. Using it to separate yourself. Separate yourself from the past. As you know, the iconic uses along with monticello. One reason is is because it is so different from other houses because of the fact that it has the coppola on the land side and has this portico on the wriverside a very wellknown se and if you look behind you, that screen when it refers back to mount vernon which became so unbelievably famous particularly after washingtons death around 1800 when this became a brilliant destination for thousands of people. On the waterside you saw, you probably know about the river, very y prominent and you would have seen the prs which was completely unfamiliar feature which would suggest this isnt just any, is a house of important and somebody who has a specific idea of what they want the house to look like and that is really significant. This is from the 18th century. Here is the plan. You see the columns. Heres the plan of the house itself and then on either side, the interesting part, you have this curved walkway that connects you outbuildings, one of which is a kitchen on either side so trying to create asymmetrical balance composition of parts of the house do you have made president s and others said identical, a mirror Image Connection to service buildings. Now you can see its basically what we call a georgian plan which is what we still build today, a true hold from land on the side over here, this opened up and then you have the view there beyond the house and two rooms on either side chimneys here and here and fireplaces in the major rooms and all of this is typical and then you have from the end, rooms added by washington to the central core, this was the end, the new room and additions that extended back to the central core so it got bigger. The idea of having various functions of a fancy Plantation House separated into pieces connected in artistic ways to one another comes from the italian renaissance architect in who both washington and efjefferson especially for very interested. Jefferson referred to the books that are well known, the bible because that was his ultimate source for his knowledge of Classical Tradition, this man famous hold for books of architectural published and republished through the 18th century, they existed in english translations and jefferson had them in the u. S. Jefferson you had one of the largest libraries and north america. So influential, not a little institution for the impact and then in north america for wealthy educated builders Like Washington and jefferson so the idea was and you see it represent on the righthand side and one of the great houses from around 1550, it was not to try to pack all of the functions of the farmhouse in this case but rather separate them into smaller buildings connected in an artistic way so on the righthand side, you see the main house connected to these walkways. These are very important and the main house at the center, what does that look like . Words he referred to here . What does it make you think of . Its like a greek or roman, it takes the idea of religious feeling and they have the source for the actual house at the center so you see the Central Block and it has another side and subsidiary buildings. The idea of separating the different parts of the complex is very important and for example, the mid 18th century it is very palladian classical central buildings and you see these walkways Like Washington thinking about here you can see two rooms that means this is probably a kitchen building, superhot and building away from the main house. Then building offices and fireplaces so the parts of the complex are beautifully balanced, used to draw a Straight Line the center and two sides are mirror images and classical stigma tree has this done in a series of Great Village in italy visited today. Famous because not only was he thought to be classical but he also had a client wealthy, people who lived by our culturee but well educated they were instigated clients and therefore associated with a style of living, living off agriculture but not just the bunk and hasty former guy g but also the sophisticated one and expressing that. So that is kind of what they are thinking of. It is what they are thinking of. Very sophisticated person living off of agriculture. There arere couple and one issue for these ambitious builders in early america, there is a path of sophistication in terms of building stone which is much less common in 17th century so when it came time, and architectures that had been pioneered in some going all the way back to ancient greek and roman, it was a challenge for people in the u. S. Often what was done was the use would and Building Material and make it look like joan so in the case of mount vernon, the wood tis then scored to make them betweenir them and give the appearance of flax and stone in the service of the wood has led pain and it. It gives a texture of quarry stone so they try to do is give the impression of this monumental plea building but work with conditions at hand. And mount vernon and monticello, there was a connection made to the pan atlantic era of revolution, the age ofev revolution in which washington and jefferson were both major players. They were not just important to the u. S. But revolutions in europe, particularly french revolution as well as revolutions in the caribbean and early 19th century. They represent the International Sphere of connections not just in the architecture but british and European Development but also in the objects which they bring into these spaces which are fascinating because theyve made it into places where the history of the early u. S. Im kind of fascinated by this, the key, the demolition of which was ordered by General Lafayette but ill save more in a minute, to whom he was very close this message, present you with a picture just as it looked a few days after ordering the demolition. This is embolic beginning of the french revolution in 1789 and after that, Lafayette Head of the National Guard orders the demolition of what remains. With the main key of that fortress of despotism, it is a tribute which i owe as a son to my adoptive father as an aid to my generalde as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch so lafayette was a wealthy french nobleman. The was philadelphia, then later in the hall at mount vernon where lafayette said during his famous farewell trip to the u. S. In 1824, 1825 where he was held as a hero of two world but the french and american revolution. At mount vernon, lafayette visit the grounds of the house of his estate which is close to the ground. A secretary said lafayette extended alone and after reappearing with eyes overflowing with tears, he took his son and me by the hand into the tomb. Eventually we respectfully suited him. Lafayette makes this trip to the u. S. To take the secretary with him. The secretary writes everyday about what lafayette did in which he went to physically every intercity and then they took comments back and they were published in the papers in the u. S. But its important he went to mount vernon because it reinforces the fact that 1820s it is a shrine and more than that to washington but also in trying to the idea of freedom which i suggest paradoxical of the Plantation House the plantation of a man who freed his slaves in his will. There is a tomb on the right hand side as it existed in the 19th century and the landscape right here which shows you and unbelievable amount of interest and you know how many places in the west is named mount vernon. It becomes an absolute icon of the revolutionary general and becomes this extremely wellknown place so here is mount vernon, it might even be bigger than the screen here, im sorry. You see this on the porch, washington and its published well after on a portrait, which im sure you recognize, the u. S. Currency and here on the left is lafayette and this is the meeting of the two men on the porch of mount vernon in 1784. What else do we have going on here . Interestingly you have the two women in the group to the right. Then to the left is is the white child and africanamerican child playing together over here. This is the paradoxical hard to understand image but one that does remind us africanamerican residents outnumbered and it is that diversity of people. Washington is building his own house but also interested in the design of the city of washington d. C. District of columbia which was constructed shortly after the establishment of the United States. The cdc and famous Group Portrait of the washington family george is on the left. Other members of the family on the other sidee and you have at the center, the map of washington d. C. The plan of the city devised by the french engineer. Interestingly, you have this plan for the city of washington. Jefferson as president also keenly interested in developing the landscape and architectural language of the new United States. Of the you dash new United States. In virginia, he is responsible for the capital at richmond. Although, expanded in the 19th andhe 20th centuries and then on the righthand side, you have a painting from the 19th century which gives a better sense of what the original building looked like. If you think that this looks like a temple, there is a reason for it. Jefferson, before serving his president lived in paris and while he w was there he commissioned on the left which is a roman temple that was built in Southern France at the time the roman empire was colonizing areas all around the mediterranean. This Temple Jefferson thought of as a really perfect example of a roman temple. Which is a style of classical architecture that uses the very elaborate supporting view up above it. Now, it is based on the idea of a greek temple of which we have a very good approximation which is an excellent idea surrounding columns and then pushed out word with the worlds to expand the enclosed part of the temple. A greek temple typically all the way around, it is relatively small. In the roman temple pushed outward and then clearing a larger space. This type of temple becomes the model as the capital of the state of virginia. Now, the state of virginia, jefferson worried a about how deplorable and awful he thought the colonial architecture of virginia and the United States was speared and his attempt was to elevate the architecture and public architecture by looking back att the classical traditio. Very directly you do not need an architectural historian for this is very historically at the example. He is also looking at this example which becomes a touchstone not only for him but for other americans and continental and british architects in the 18th century. The roman temple which has greek temple like facade that leads to this dramatic space, this domed rotunda, building a broom that is circular and then has this concrete dome above it. Roman concrete, pioneering the concrete past this dome which is open and comes to the building and has to get mopped up on the floor. But also coming through t the building and casting these spots that move around the anterior towards the courseon of the day. Jefferson was a huge admirer of this building. One of the things he admired was the way you imagined this big basketball inside the space, you just kind of still it appeared a large sphere having a building around it. Giving it a geometric purity that was admired by jefferson. What he does that is so clever, but not very orthodox, you could say it is cover or very weird and perverse. I would say it is clear clever. A transverse section that goes across the short side and then going through the site here is the support which looks out on the james river where richmond is located and you see that you basically have a roman temple and then you have inside of it this domed rotunda. Of course, the idea that the domes rotunda is at the center of theer conception of the u. S. Capital. But what is the difference here. The u. S. Capital, what is different about this dome . Soaked inside the building. So you do not see it appeared from the outside, jefferson maintains the purity of the idea of the temple. He puts inside the domes rotunda in this very interesting way. There is the space where he has a really difficult problem because he does not have those curved walls that support the dome but rather he sets the dome on a square room. He has an issue of how you get from the square room to a dome that has a circular base. You have to have these weird kind of triangular bases in between to make that juncture. Anyway, at the center is washington. In this sculpture of there you see him. In a stance that is meant to revoke a roman statesman and the stance is also one that is familiar to antiquity all the way back to the socalled pose. The pose and which one they called the weight of the body. You see it in classical sculpture. The idea was it gives to the body because in the upper body has to kind of adjust to that uneven distribution of weight. So, that formulapu became very popular in antiquity giving life to theap human figure. It was then adopted in this 19th century sculpture of washington which is now a contemporary figure but also again represents the Classical Tradition. Jefferson washington. Both of these men dependent for all of their buildings. It saw a manufactured good space from Great Britain and then to africa and elsewhere. Then brought to the caribbean and ultimately to north america in this very famous triangle trade with the plantations of jefferson, washington and others cannot be disassociated despite the fact that architecturally through this Classical Tradition in the 16th century. Jefferson also referred to the tradition in his own design for his monument which you see here which is a form that was devised first by the ancient physician and then used again throughout and twig 20 where he wanted to be known for the declaration of american independence. Of a o statue. The university of virginia appeared the monument and it is really a great promoting his contribution to freedom. Jefferson hearing from california in 1743. As early on as a young man he cleared the site of 250 square feet at the top of a hill. That is where he lived for much of his life. Over the course of a very long time. He refers to it as his essay in architecture. Along with the land plantation. Jefferson inherited slaves fromm his father even more from john wales. Also bought and sold and he owned about 200 of them. Almost half of them under the age of 15. About 80 of them lived in monticello. They far outnumbered the free people. Others lived elsewhere. His estate in Bedford County virginia which is south of monticello. South of charlottesville where he built a very Beautiful House that i will not talk about today they were in trickle to what he did. Some in the main house. Many were members of this family , as you probably know. Ta her children were part of the wales estate and tradition says that john wales was a father of six of the children. Having a special position. It is all having speared it is a stress for six having children. Four groups are mentioned in jeffersons plantation. Leaving monticello during his lifetime. The two youngest sons madison and espen were freed. Others worked on popular forest which was a retreat for jefferson. Going down there while it was under construction. At the same time these children were also there. So, while jefferson is building this plantation operation, he is also elaborating this role monument at his center. His main house which is architecture and particularly in the Classical Tradition as his understanding of the change over the course of his life and that is his knowledge of contemporary Great Britain and in france. So, the first design this twostory design which we will see in a moment was based on this ideal. Thought of as the bible. Benjamin henry possibly the first professional architect in the u. S. Who knew jefferson, a good architect out of books. Saying, yeah, he is good. Books of architecture. There was no tool of architecture at that time. And then you have the final design which is close to what exists today which is really interesting. As you can see it has totally been transformed from this earlier model. And what he did principally was to really disguise the second story. He really suppresses the visibility of that second story of course as the dome. His first model, taking one example, you can see it has this with the pediment up above. And that is very clearly what jefferson has in mind here. He goes to france and while he is there, he constructed this building. Have any of you ever been to paris . Right next door, if you ever go there, it is something to notice giving jefferson the idea of building a hotel, in the french sense. Rather a large house. And so, the idea of building a large residence kind of dome space at the center and somewhat disguise secondstory. This is what eventually develops so, here you have this approach to the main entrance and monticello like mount vernon even while jefferson is alive, noafter he finishes his presidey , goes back to mount tvernon, he lives there, this incredibly important intellectual architect and of course statesman. People just go there hoping to meet up with them. Where they would be, winding their ways around the mountain. They would t come up the road. They would be met at what would already signal, what you would house if somebody was allotted explorations and then if they were invited in, they could move throughh it, through the space where there is a dorm up above and out to the lawn. This is open to the west. Symbolic of jeffersons role in opening up the continents. Very interestingly with these walkways that make a whole complex into a kind of cshaped. Now, when we first started utbuilding up monticello, he starts out with the south pavilion which is right here. These little tiny buildings where he and martha actually live. This is a modest building. It survives, as you can see. Later uses offices and so on. Beloww, you have all the service areas. Carried out primarily by enslaved labor. So, it promotes the main house. It suppresses the evidence of slave labor which would come against the kind of enlightened perspective on him that was offered by the main house. Here it is speared the famous prism in the 19th century. You dont see work areas below it. Seeing the prospect beyond. Here is the plan. Over the course of jeffersons holife taught. Making you think back thorough plan of s mount vernon. Four rooms. One on the other side. Pushing to the edges. I protecting the l word on the service areas. Continuing a series for a different function that would be required for such a big Plantation House. If you go visit, you can see that in here about the life of people on that plantation. Here it is speared a more developed version. At the upper level the south passage. Jefferson ts law office up to e right. And then these servant spaces down below. So though working parts of this complex are separated out. They dont all push through the same building but expressed their different architectural one speared the worst this monumental into a grand space. Of what has been posted. A history of transatlantic of the century. This is the space where you would enter. You would be there to be received and tossed out. It was a reason. The animal skins and other objects that were from native american peoples, classical sculpture appeared included french philosophers who he felt were important to the conception of american democracy and, you see, one of the important things was a clock appeared it shows that jefferson was living at the moment where we were keeping track of time. It became increasingly important it is a phenomenon through the 19th century speared he invented and a very complicated and so on it is really a kind of museum space. F eight museum of jeffersons investment in western culture the democratic traditions and contemporary political events. So, as mentioned in this working of monticello is to add a dome. The dome room never actually had much of a function. A visitor in 1809. We looked into a beautiful and circular room in the dome. They had eight circular window speared they soon found on account of the situation the dome for the use for the purposes. A room that is symbolically extremely important because it associated jefferson with wisdom , with cultural traditions , with the great monuments of the past, but it was essentially useless. You go up a narrow staircase. Going up there and hanging out. And then very things about it is if you open the doors on the side and we expect this commanding view besides the pediment of the cable down below it is speaking up in the doorway it is not very well realized design, however, it is extremely interesting the way that it monumental wises this Plantation House. It connects it with ideas of democracy and freedom some paradoxically i would say. There iss the view which is obviously this gorgeous commanding view over the landscape. I and with what you all know probably far better than i do. Rebuilt in the 1830s. Given this portico which i think we can now see as a continuation of a tradition that goes all the way backun to mount vernon. I think that it was pioneering on mount vernon at the space back its a commanding view over a plantation. It elevates the house to the status ofth more than a residen. Something that is a place that represents a politically extremely important figure like jackson. Now, in washington, and jeffersonsal time, classical architecture had very specific medium t speared for jefferson really closely connected to the french revolution and to the democratic traditions that he saw going back to the roman republic. By the time that this building gets built or rebuilt, not only are the sources slightly different and the sources that jefferson and washington were looking at, it is greek architecture rather than roman architecture and it takes on a whole new past because of the greek work for independent that took place in the 1820s. Which americans followed this very closely. And for americans, the greek word for independence was a replaying of the american war for independence. It was very close without cause. In the 1820s and 1830s when they used greek architecture, it was in part to signal political allegiance to the cause of democracy. Around the world, particularly in the atlantic world. I also want to keep in mind that in many ways they make paradox claims because they made these claims of affiliation of democratic traditions and their context of a democracy that was extremely limited in who it tenfranchised as we know. That movement to change that is ongoing and aspirations of these buildings and the builders are really being held as models. Up there for probably too long. I am happy to take any questions if i have not worn you out already, which may be the case. Oh, yes. I would like for you to comment a little bit about with jackson and jefferson, they basically had a blank canvas to build whatever they want. For washington, kind of stuck with the house to then modify. Yeah. Key, you know, inherited the house. He had much more already built there. Trying to adapt. That is why there is some noted about it at the time. It is for that reason. Trying to renovate rather than build from scratch. Thank you. Great presentation. I am curious early in your presentation, one of the slides, you showed for properties, referred to them as plantations. Todays society, how do you see today and may be looking forward , securing these properties and the threats of these properties as we have seen other things threatened. Speaking about the threats. The removal of history. Our moving history into the basement of, you know, certain properties, but the Actual Properties today, how do you see that that may be threatened in the future and is there historical, i guess, part b2 that wouldro be are there things in the past . Wear are still a young country. If we look to europe over thousands of years of history, what can we learn from that . In france, you know, famously in the french revolution, in the wake of the revolution, every building that had to do with the monarchy or the church because both of those were seen as institutions, both overthrown, nationalized. There is this initial movement that very quickly gets turned around. People Start Talking about it as vandalism is a way we would translated. Certain people argue for the fact that although they are monuments to a thing called despotism, still they represent the ingenuity, the creativity, the hard work of the french people. And artistic paralysis. And therefore, they are deserving of being preserved. There is this effort to stop the kind of demolition of wanting to get rid of their imagery from a regime that sees itself is very impressive. That is the example i think, right, of how there is, you know , legitimate resentment of imagery of ideas that we dont accept any longer. But at the same time representing what we dont have. I recently wrote a book about m the cathedral of notre dame. After the french revolution destroying it. Other people come forward and say this really represents worker who we dont know anything about. Similarly with monticello where popular forest. Other public buildings. Built by slaves. Having records of them by and large, we have these buildings that represent this handiwork. With that said, i do not think that we want to repress the uncomfortable parts of the history. I think in this regard, monticello has done an exemplary job of bringing to life not just what was designed in all of these places, but also the slave people that work there. Designing both populations. The paradox since of on the one hand highly ambitious, very sophisticated, you know, inspiring in many ways architectural projects that nonetheless rest on the labor of these people. I think that there is nothing wrong, i think that there is everything right and understanding and looking at that paradox. Places like this allow us to do that. I see them as a really beautiful opportunity to talk about the resistance. I think that is the case of the u. S. I think that that is the case of all ofnc western history. Simultaneous distance of great ambitions for equality and democracy and so on. At the same time phenomenon calming against that. Failing to bring about the complete realization of those ambitions. I think places like this can really teach people at the same time. Using them as an opportunity to see both sides of the coin. It is very longwinded answer to your question. Very important points. I really enjoyed your presentation. Very important to our history. In the west . Totally prejudice. You may know some of the residences that are owned by Historic New England which is thehe organization there where 18th century houses, but they also have a very wonderful modern from 1978. Designing to create in 1937. Another house had lobbyists in september. They spoke of molly brown which is one of the great house to wears. One that mark twain has. Really fantastic crazy house below. A wonderful. And then, you know, the plantations in the southeast. The low countries South Carolina and other favorites of mine. Any comments about the madison plantation nearby . I was up there recently working and got to visit all of them. Monroe was interesting. Not as significant, i guess, as these. I was stunned that they defined in the old terminal the history of washingtons soninlaw, stepson, who bought a mansion out the door as a Ronald Reagan that has now been restored. Im a little scared to walk out there at night to see it. The groundwork is laid. Add some architectural drawings. Way too much money in washington i didnd not know if you had lood at that house and what they are trying to do to restore it and how plantation i think it wasnt compared to mount vernon, for example. I have not been there recently so ive not seen that. Madison is more superior to doing a fantastic job of trying to interpret the diverse population that lives there. Hearing it from my colleagues about that site and doing a great jobs there, so, yes, it s really interesting history. There is an overlay. This weird decorating. Iter is interesting. An interesting place. Other questions for doctor murphy . Thank you for this amazing talk. Iredell of you to come back. You will now see it through the lens. That doctor murphy created. Please come back and study the way jefferson stared at that. Thank you all. If you are enjoying American History tv signup for our newsletter. Lectures in history, the presidency and more. Signup for the American History tv newsletter today and be sure to watch every saturday or anytime online at cspan. Org hiy