THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

Washington, D.C.

The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 as a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence. The neoclassical building is on the Potomac River. The architect was John Russell Pope and the contractor was John McShain. The line between the Jefferson Memorial and the White House form one of the main axis’s in the area of the National Mall in D.C. The Washington Monument was planned to be the intersection of the axis of White House and the Jefferson Memorial, but weak soils required the Washindton Monument to be shifted slightly off axis.

The building is composed of circular marble steps, a portico, a circular colonnade of Ionic order columns, and a shallow dome. The building has a diameter of approximately 165 feet, is open to the elements. It is constructed of white Imperial Danby marble from Vermont, which rests upon a series of granite and marble-stepped terraces. A cornice with an egg and dart molding surrounds the pediment, below which is a plain frieze. The memorial cost approximately $3 million to construct. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the landscape surrounding the memorial.

This sketch was done in tandem with the US Capitol sketch, on the occasion of the Capitol Ballroom Dance Competition.