Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991 TAG: 9104050525
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But visitors will likely be surprised. The elegant white dome will be sheathed with shingles of shiny, unpainted tin plate. And the rest of the roofing, terraced slopes of sheet metal painted a rich red to echo Monticello's brick-colored earth, also will be replaced with the metal shingles.
"It might be a little reflective. We hope it won't be too bright," said William L. Beiswanger, restoration director.
However it looks, it's intended to recreate the roofing Jefferson himself designed and had installed.
Later this month, Beiswanger and a team of architects will begin a nearly $1 million project to rebuild Jefferson's intricate, multilevel roof. The work is expected to take 15 months and will be the most extensive renovation since the brick mansion was opened to the public more than 60 years ago.
Jefferson designed, built and rebuilt his hilltop home over a 40-year period.
"Architecture is my delight and putting up and pulling down one of my favorite amusements," he wrote.
Roofs were a special challenge to Jefferson, who sought to create the low, classic lines and smooth domes he saw on buildings in Europe. He designed the domed roofs on several buildings at the University of Virginia in nearby Charlottesville.
Monticello's 7,378-square-foot roof is a complex system of ridges and valleys. Jefferson designed gullies and channels that would make gutters unnecessary. The restoration will strip off modern gutters installed at the roof's last overhaul.
In the last decade of his life, Jefferson designed and built a roofing system of overlapping tin plate tiles or shingles. His idea was to create an advanced roof that could be installed by local laborers with little roofing or tinsmithing skills.
"The small metal plates were inexpensive and could be watertight. Jefferson was simply trying to get the best roof he could for the least money," said University of Virginia historic architect Murray Howard.
Between 1818 and 1821, Jefferson had eight pavilions at the university covered with tin plate, and in 1825 he used the same method at his second home, Poplar Forest.
Restoration experts believe Jefferson died content he had built a roof that would last the balance of the 19th century. But the tin plate roofs probably began to leak soon after installation and were covered with traditional wooden shingles sometime before 1850, experts said.
by CNB