Monticello replicas

{{Short description|List of replicas of Thomas Jefferson's house}} [[File:Monticello reflected.JPG|thumb|The original Monticello, pictured here, has inspired hundreds of replicas.]] Monticello, the Albemarle County, Virginia, plantation home of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, has inspired hundreds of replica buildings.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS">{{cite news |last1=Andrews |first1=Kate |title=Too many Monticellos? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/danville-register-and-bee/197471283/ |access-date=13 May 2026 |work=Danville Register and Bee |agency=Media General News Service |date=December 29, 2003 |pages=3A-4A}}</ref> These buildings, built across the United States, have included private residences, museums, academic buildings and banks. At one point, the Jefferson Library near Charlottesville maintained a file dating back to the 1960s documenting the replicas.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" />

Designed by Jefferson himself based on his exposure to classical architecture during his diplomatic service in Europe, and rebuilt in its current form between 1796 and 1809, Monticello is considered a major architectural landmark.<ref name="o465">{{cite web | title=Tradition and Innovation: The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello | website=HUD USER | date=May 16, 2025 | url=https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-housingat250-article-062625.html | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> It is listed as a National Historic Landmark and is the only private residence and thus U.S. presidential home to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.monticello.org/site/about/monticello-unesco-world-heritage-site|title=Monticello, a UNESCO World Heritage Site|website=Thomas Jefferson's Monticello|access-date=2017-01-11}}</ref>

However, Monticello replicas have received negative critical appraisal. A former curator of Ash Lawn–Highland, a home of James Monroe located near Monticello, described them as having "an intrinsic lack of subtlety and a fondness for pretension."<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" /> The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello, has looked with skepticism on replica projects. Bill Beiswanger, then-director of restoration at Monticello, said in 2003 that Jefferson would be "rather aghast" at the prevalence of replicas.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" /> One replica builder in Washington state sought plans for Monticello from the foundation, and not receiving them, toured the house with a tape measure but was stopped from using it by security guards.<ref name="Monticello West - LA Times" /> However, when Friendly's founder S. Prestley Blake was planning his Monticello replica in Connecticut, Monticello officials spent six hours meeting with his builders and answering their questions.<ref name="Somers - UVA mag">{{cite web | last=Bisbort | first=Alan | title=Monticello Redux: An 100-year-old Jefferson aficionado builds a Monticello replica in Connecticut | website=Virginia Magazine | date=February 19, 2015 | url=https://uvamagazine.org/articles/monticello_redux | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref>

== List of documented permanent replicas == {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Name !Location !State !Image !Year completed !Notes !Coordinates |- |Blake Center for Faith and Freedom, Hillsdale College |Somers |Connecticut |200px |2014 |This replica was built by Friendly's founder and Jefferson devotee S. Prestley Blake and his wife, Helen. It was completed in 2014, when Blake was 100.<ref name="Somers - UVA mag" /> The {{convert|10000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} building is a perfect replica from the front and includes a three-car garage in the rear.<ref name="Somers - Untapped">{{cite web | last=Saraniero | first=Nicole | title=There's a Replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Connecticut | website=Untapped New York | date=February 19, 2024 | url=https://www.untappedcities.com/monticello-replica-connecticut/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> Blake spent $7.7 million to build it, but sold it at auction two years later for $2.1 million.<ref name="Somers - AP">{{cite news | title=Replica of Jefferson's Monticello sells at auction for $2.1M | agency=Associated Press | date=June 1, 2016 | url=https://apnews.com/general-news-168866d891f442899053d2b7138e0bda | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> Blake, who lived nearby, never moved into the house but held functions there. In 2019, Blake donated $25 million, along with his nearby estate, to Michigan-based Hillsdale College.<ref name="Somers - AP - 2019">{{cite news | agency=The Associated Press | title=Education-business center would feature Monticello replica | work=The Seattle Times | date=February 9, 2019 | url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/education-business-center-would-feature-monticello-replica/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref><ref name="Somers - Collegian - 2019">{{cite web | last=Ault | first=Nicole | title=Friendly's co-founder seeks to donate Monticello replica to Hillsdale | website=Hillsdale Collegian | date=February 21, 2019 | url=https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2019/02/friendlys-co-founder-seeks-to-donate-monticello-replica-to-hillsdale/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> Hillsdale in turn used $4.85 million to buy three other adjoining properties, including spending $3 million to buy the Monticello replica from the private owner. The college's 2019 land-use plans for the {{convert|100|acres|ha|adj=on}} campus, to be called the Blake Center for Faith and Freedom, would focus on seminars and lectures related to Christianity, with a full-time chaplain and chapel on site.<ref name="Somers - CTmag">{{cite news | last=Hoffman | first=Christopher | title=How the coming of a conservative Midwestern college divided a small CT town | website=Connecticut Magazine | date=September 2020 | url=https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticutmagazine/article/How-the-coming-of-a-conservative-Midwestern-17045515.php | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> The first chaplain and executive director of the Blake Center was Anglican priest Alan Crippen.<ref name="Somers - HC about">{{cite web | title=About Us | website=The Blake Center for Faith and Freedom – An extension of Hillsdale College in Somers | publisher=Hillsdale College | date=May 14, 2026 | url=https://blakecenter.hillsdale.edu/about-us/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> The first floor of the Monticello replica is used for events, while the second floor provides four suites for guest speakers.<ref name="Somers - Collegian - 2021">{{cite web | last=Crawford | first=Elizabeth | title=Remembering Prestley Blake's recipe for success | website=Hillsdale Collegian | date=September 7, 2023 | url=https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2023/09/remembering-prestley-blakes-recipe-for-success/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|42.03338|-72.49009|type:landmark|name=Blake Center for Faith and Freedom}} |- |Former Integra Bank branch |Huntingburg |Indiana |200px | |Sold following the failure of Integra Bank; no longer a bank.<ref name="Huntingburg-DFP">{{cite web | last=Crane | first=Matthew | title=Long time Huntingburg eyesore due to be demolished | website=Dubois County Free Press | date=May 11, 2012 | url=https://duboiscountyfreepress.com/long-time-huntingburg-eyesore-due-to-be-demolished/ | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|38.31158|-86.95589|type:landmark|name=Tienda Latina}} |- |First National Bank of Monticello |Monticello |Indiana | |1975 |Built as the headquarters of the First National Bank of Monticello following the 1974 destruction of its office at 116 East Washington Street in a tornado. The design was inspired both by the name of the town and the 1976 United States Bicentennial.<ref name="FNB-Monticello">{{cite news |last1=Cullen |first1=Kevin |title=Lafayette Bank & Trust expands |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/journal-and-courier/197472425/ |access-date=13 May 2026 |work=Journal and Courier |date=April 20, 1996 |page=A9}}</ref> The branch location was purchased by National City Bank, then Lafayette Bank & Trust in 1996 and ultimately First Merchants Bank in 2009.<ref name="FNB-Monticello" /><ref name="FNB-Monticello-Bankfind">{{cite web |title=First Merchants Bank |url=https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind/details/4365?activeStatus=0%20OR%201&bankfindLevelThreeView=History&branchOffices=true&city=monticello&name=first%20merchants&pageNumber=1&resultLimit=25&searchPush=true&stalp=IN |website=BankFind |publisher=Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation |access-date=13 May 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|40.74631|-86.76093|type:landmark|name=First Merchants Bank, Monticello, Indiana}} |- |Paducah Replica |Paducah |Kentucky | | |Engineered by Henry Maxwell Lummis.<ref name="Paducah">{{cite web | title=Obituary information for Henry Maxwell Lummis | publisher=Milner & Orr Funeral Home and Cremation Services | date=December 14, 1926 | url=https://www.milnerandorr.com/obituaries/Henry-Maxwell-Lummis?obId=3088716 | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|37.05474|-88.64541|type:landmark|name=Paducah Monticello Replica}} |- |Ward and Regina Correll Science Complex, University of the Cumberlands |Williamsburg |Kentucky | |2007 |Built with a $1 million donation from Ward Correll, the {{convert|28000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} building includes classrooms, labs and a 134-seat seminar room.<ref name="Correll - TTT">{{cite web | title=$1 million donated for science complex | website=The Times Tribune | date=August 22, 2007 | url=https://www.thetimestribune.com/community/1-million-donated-for-science-complex/article_d2847cfb-ced9-5ed8-a617-1c1a2820bbe2.html | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref><ref name="Correll - JEA">{{cite web | title=University of the Cumberlands Ward Correll Science Building – Johnson Early Architects | publisher=Johnson Early Architects | date=May 13, 2026 | url=https://johnsonearlyarchitects.net/education/university-of-the-cumberlands-ward-correll-science-building/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|36.73679|-84.16100|type:landmark|name=Ward and Regina Correll Science Complex}} |- |Chamberlain Hall, Wilbraham & Monson Academy |Wilbraham |Massachusetts | |1997 |The 1962 Chamberlain Hall, home to W&M Academy's middle school, was expanded with a building based on Monticello.<ref name="W&M - campus">{{cite web |url=http://www.wma.us/page.cfm?p=319 |title=Academics - Chamberlain Hall/ Middle School - Wilbraham & Monson |website=www.WMA.us |access-date=February 4, 2018 |archive-date=April 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414180546/https://www.wma.us/page.cfm?p=319 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="W&M - KuhnRiddle">{{cite web | last=Salvon | first=Jonathan | title=A Blast from the Past | publisher=Kuhn Riddle Architects | date=October 29, 2014 | url=https://kuhnriddle.com/blog/a-blast-from-the-past/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref> It was built with a $1 million gift from S. Prestley Blake, for whom the middle school was subsequently named, and opened in 1997.<ref name="Somers - UVA mag" /><ref name="W&M - Republican">{{cite news |last1=Woodcock |first1=Andrew |title=Friendly's co-founder honored at new academy middle school |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-republican/197497761/ |access-date=14 May 2026 |work=The Republican |date=October 5, 1997}}</ref> |{{coord|42.12364|-72.43271|type:landmark|name=Chamberlain Hall}} |- |Pi Kappa Alpha Memorial Headquarters |Memphis |Tennessee | |1988 |Built in the Southwind development and dedicated during the 1988 Memphis Pi Kappa Alpha convention with nearly 1,000 members in attendance. The building included larger museum exhibit and archival capacity.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" /><ref name="Pikes-PKA">{{cite web | title=Memorial Headquarters | publisher=Pi Kappa Alpha | date=July 30, 2025 | url=https://pikes.org/foundation/pi-kappa-alpha-historical-society/memorial-headquarters/ | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|35.05515|-89.78476|type:landmark|name=Pi Kappa Alpha Memorial Headquarters}} |- |Wings of a Dove Museum at Trinity Music City |Hendersonville |Tennessee | |1984 |This building was opened in 1984 as Ferlin Husky's Wings of a Dove Museum, part of Conway Twitty's tourism complex.<ref name="WOAD-Tennessean">{{cite news |last1=Oermann |first1=Robert K. |title=Music Village USA Expansions to Tantalize Tennessee Tourists |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean/197470907/ |access-date=13 May 2026 |work=The Tennessean |date=May 27, 1984 |page=Showcase-9}}</ref> Later became part of the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Nashville-area campus.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" /> |{{coord|36.32283|-86.56524|type:landmark|name=Trinity Music City}} |- |Jim and Sally Nation Hall, Dallas Baptist University |Dallas |Texas |200px |2015 |A {{convert|23000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} replica at a slightly larger scale, Nation Hall houses Dallas Baptist University's Gary Cook School of Leadership as well as the office's of the university's president and chancellor.<ref name="NationHall-DBU">{{cite web | title=Gary Cook School of Leadership | publisher=Dallas Baptist University | url=https://www.dbu.edu/leadership/about-us/nation-hall/ | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref><ref name="NationHall-ENR">{{cite web | last=Poirier | first=Louise | title=Small Project Award of Merit: Dallas Baptist University Jim and Sally Nation Hall | website=Engineering News-Record | date=October 10, 2016 | url=https://www.enr.com/articles/40485-small-project-award-of-merit-dallas-baptist-university-jim-and-sally-nation-hall | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|32.70950|-96.94849|type:landmark|name=Jim and Sally Nation Hall}} |- |Prosperity Bank Sugar Land Banking Center |Sugar Land |Texas | |1999 |Built as the headquarters of Southern National Bank prior to its acquisition by Prosperity Bancshares, this {{convert|15100|ft2|m2|adj=on}} building is part of a corporate campus that includes replicas of Poplar Forest and the Lawn at the University of Virginia.<ref name="Andrews-MGNS" /><ref name="Prosperity-SAH">{{cite web | title=Prosperity Bank Sugar Land Banking Center (Southern National Bank) | website=SAH ARCHIPEDIA | date=September 20, 2018 | url=https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-AS41 | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref><ref name="ProsperityBank-contractor">{{cite web | title=Monticello, Headquarters for Prosperity Bank | publisher=Mission Constructors | url=https://missionconstructors.com/portfolio/monticello-prosperity-bank/ | access-date=May 13, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|29.61908|-95.60530|type:landmark|name=Prosperity Bank Sugar Land Banking Center}} |- |Zeta Psi Fraternity House, University of Virginia |Charlottesville |Virginia |200px |1926 |Designed by Louis F. Voorhees in 1924 and completed in 1926, includes a portico that is an exact replica of the one Jefferson designed for Monticello prior to 1772.<ref name="ZetaPsi - Palladiana">{{cite web |last1=McClane |first1=Patrick W. |title=Zeta Psi Fraternity House, UVA: Mini-Monticello? |url=https://palladiancenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Palladiana-Journal-Fall-2025.pdf |website=Palladiana |access-date=14 May 2026 |pages=1, 10-13 |date=Fall 2005}}</ref> |{{coord|38.03909|-78.50229|type:landmark|name=Zeta Psi House}} |- |St. Paul's Baptist Church South |Richmond |Virginia | |1972 |The $670,000 sanctuary and Monticello-inspired entrance complex was completed in 1972 for Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church.<ref name="SPBS - RTD">{{cite news |title=Weatherford Baptist Will Dedicate Addition |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch/197499913/ |access-date=14 May 2026 |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=April 15, 1972 |page=A6}}</ref> Following decades of membership declines, in 2005 the congregation voted to disband and donate its building to the predominantly African-American St. Paul's Baptist Church, which operates the former Weatherford building as a satellite campus.<ref name="SPBS - ABP">{{Cite web |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/richmond-church-not-afraid-to-give-itself-away/ |title=Richmond church not afraid to give itself away |date=August 4, 2005 |website=Baptist News Global |language=en-US |access-date=July 24, 2019 |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507075351/https://baptistnews.com/article/richmond-church-not-afraid-to-give-itself-away/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |{{coord|37.50160|-77.47375|type:landmark|name=St. Paul's Baptist Church South}} |- |Monticello West |Ford |Washington | |{{circa}} 2020 |Built between 2001 and roughly 2020 by (and to a design by) retired Eastern Washington University professor Dan Sisson. Construction used foraged, salvaged and secondhand materials, including more than 22,000 used bricks.<ref name="Monticello West - LA Times">{{cite web | last=Heikes | first=Drexel | title=Genius or folly? One man's three-decade quest to build a replica of Monticello in the middle of nowhere | website=Los Angeles Times | date=April 10, 2020 | url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-10/genius-or-folly-one-mans-three-decade-quest-to-build-a-replica-of-monticello-in-the-middle-of-nowhere | access-date=May 12, 2026}}</ref><ref name="Monticello West - SR">{{cite web | last=Vestal | first=Shawn | title=Shawn Vestal: Author, historian building replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello | website=Spokane Spokesman-Review | date=November 21, 2014 | url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/nov/21/shawn-vestal-author-historian-building-replica-of/ | access-date=May 12, 2026}}</ref> |{{coord|47.88039|-117.84687|type:landmark|name=Monticello West}} |}

== Temporary replicas == [[File:Virginia pavilion LPE.jpg|thumb|The Virginia pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a replica of Monticello, under construction in 1904]] With $60,000 in state funding, a temporary Monticello reproduction was erected as Virginia's state pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair. The pavilion was open from May through September 1904. The pavilion displays included a life-size statue of Jefferson, the table on which Jefferson drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and the chair Jefferson used to preside over the United States Senate as vice president.<ref name="LPE-book">{{cite book | last1=Bennitt | first1=Mark | last2=Stockbridge | first2=Frank Parker | title=History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition: Comprising the History of the Louisiana Territory, the Story of the Louisiana Purchase and a Full Account of the Great Exposition, Embracing the Participation of the States and Nations of the World, and Other Events of the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904; Comp. from Official Sources | publisher=Universal Exposition Publishing Company | date=1905 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Louisiana_Purchase_Exposi/5ZJDAQAAMAAJ | access-date=May 14, 2026 | page=393}}</ref>

For the first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson in 1913, a temporary replica of Monticello's portico was erected in front of the White House to serve as the president's viewing stand for the inaugural parade. The selection of Monticello as a design motif was attributed to Wilson's desire for simplicity in inaugural trappings.<ref name="Wilson-AP-1913">{{cite news |title=Jeffersonian Simplicity Is Reflected in Decorations |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal/197504858/ |work=The Atlanta Journal |agency=Associated Press |date=March 4, 1913 |page=4}}</ref>

== Planned replica == In the 1930s, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, William Christian Bullitt Jr., planned to build a Monticello replica to serve as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. These plans were not seen to completion.<ref name="Moscow">{{cite web | title=Spaso House History | website=U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia | publisher=U.S. Mission in Russia | date=April 11, 2023 | url=https://ru.usembassy.gov/spaso-house-history/ | access-date=May 14, 2026}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Lists of replicas Category:Monticello Category:Replica buildings