[by Maura Singleton, UVa Magazine]

Before the University of Virginia was canonized as an architectural masterpiece, it was disparaged for the odd proportions and outdated style of its pavilions and “frail” materials. And long before Thomas Jefferson was hailed for his genius, skepticism persisted that such an amateur could have designed it himself.

Jefferson died in 1826 believing he had created a leading educational institution and an architectural landmark. Posterity continues to reappraise it; perceptions have obviously improved, though speculation over the sources of his ground plan—the gardens at Marly-le-Roy? The Hôtel de Salm in Paris?—has become an absorbing hair-splitting exercise among historians and critics.

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