A mansion modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation (pictured) has sold at auction for $2.1million
The 10,000 square foot replica house (pictured) in Somers, Connecticut, was built by Friendly’s Ice Cream co-founder S. Prestley Blake
Spacious Kitchen
Marble top counters give the kitchen a luxurious feel.
Nestled in nine acres of land, the property has seven fireplaces (pictured) and a three car garage and cost a cool $7.7 million to build
The house was built to mimic the original Monticello from the outside, including the decorative railings on the roof and the handmade bricks imported from Virginia, laid in the same Flemish bond pattern used by Jefferson
The mansion, which also has three helicopter landing spots, combines an up-to-date interior with Jefferson’s classic exterior design
THE ORIGINAL
The original Monticello mansion was built by Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1768
‘At the age of 21, Thomas Jefferson inherited several thousand acres of land that encompassed the family estate as well as his favorite boyhood haunt: a nearby hilltop called (Italian for ‘little mountain’)
‘In 1768, a year after the future president was admitted to the Virginia bar, workers broke ground on the site.
The Parlor at Monticello
‘Jefferson drafted the blueprints for Monticello’s neoclassical mansion, outbuildings, gardens and grounds. Though he had no formal training, he had read extensively about architecture, particularly that of ancient Rome and the Italian Renaissance.
Dining Room at Monticello
‘Years later, he would become an accomplished architect whose designs included the Virginia state capitol and the main buildings at the University of Virginia.
‘Monticello was unique not only in its design but also in its use of local resources. At a time when most brick was still imported from England, Jefferson chose to mold and bake his own bricks with clay found on the property.
Monticello Parlor Moretz
‘Monticello’s grounds provided most of the lumber, stone and limestone, and even the nails used to construct the buildings were manufactured on site.
The second floor chamber of Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph.
PHOTO: © THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION AT MONTEBELLO
PHOTO BY WALTER SMALLING
‘In 1789, after returning from a trip to France, taken after his wife Martha Wayles died, he expanded the property. He added a central hallway, a mezzanine bedroom floor and an octagonal dome–the first of its kind in the United States.
Library
‘Monticello was not just a residence but also a working plantation, home to roughly 130 enslaved African Americans whose duties included tending its gardens and livestock, plowing its fields and working in its on-site textile factory.’
Source: History.com
Widowed and in debt, Anne Scott Jefferson Marks (1755–1828) lived under the protection of her brother and family patriarch, Thomas Jefferson.
She probably brought some of her own furnishings with her, including an easy chair and a bedstead and curtains that date from the time of her marriage in 1787.
©Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, photo by Walter Smalling Jr.
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