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Top 10 Remarkable Facts about the Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The famous Jefferson Memorial is basically a presidential memorial which was built in the period between 1939 to 1943.

The building was sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States of America. He choice a location suitable for a beautiful memory of the Founding Father of the United States of America.

For that reason, the neoclassical building sits on the West Potomac Park. It is on the shore of River Potomac to reflect the beauty rising from the water.

Consequently, Jefferson memorial was purposely built to honor all the people who contributed into making United States of America a nation.

This included Thomas Jefferson, who was the principal author of the united States Declaration of Independence. He was the founder of the Democratic Republican Party.

However, the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson was added after its completion in 1947. The designer was John Russel Pope. A Philadelphia contractor, John McShain constructed the Jefferson Memorial.

It is known that John Pope, while designing the memorial structure, made reference to the Roman Pantheon whose designer was Apollodorus of Damascus and his own design for the rotunda at the University of Virginia.

The Jefferson memorial is one of the main anchor points in the area of the national Mall in D.C. However, due to the swampy ground at the intersection of the White House, the building was pushed further to the east.

Otherwise the main focus was to built it right at the intersection of White House.

The management of Jefferson Memorial is under the National Park Service of the Department of Interior, United States government.

The American Institute of Architects, ranked the structure fourth on the List of America’s Favorite Architecture.

1. Fourth in the America’s list of well Structured

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The building attracts many tourists because of it’s beauty and location. It is ranked the fourth most beautify and well structured Architectural building in the United States Institute of Architects.

The American institute of Architects, ranked the structure fourth on the List of America’s Favorite Architecture.

2. Thomas Jefferson Status

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The statue of Thomas Jefferson is strategically located at the front of the building. As one of the founding fathers of the United States, his status clearly represent his input in the United States Declaration of Independence.

The statue was sculpted by Rudolph Evans. It is 19 feet tall. It weighs 10,000 pounds. Thomas Jefferson face is on the 2 dollar bill. What is unique about it is that Jefferson’s face is on the front of the nickel coin, Monticello and his Virginia home is at the back.

What is more outstanding about Thomas Jefferson is that he was the founder of the Democratic Republican Party.

3. The Unique Pillars

The building is a circular, open air structure featuring a shallow dome. Its north portico is supported by 12 columns, 4 columns stand in each of the memorials 4 openings.

It is supported by a circular colonnade composed of 26 ionic columns. The 26 columns represent the number of states in the union when Jefferson died.

The most remarkable event is that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died the same say July 4, 1826.

Thomas Jefferson was the third President while John Adams was the second President in the history of United States of America.

4. Thomas Jefferson

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The memorial was named after the third president of United States of America (1801 to 1809). Thomas Jefferson. He was known as an spokesman of democracy.

In 1776, he was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. These are some contributions he made in bringing America to independence hence the qualification to the list of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

5. The Beautiful Blissful Walkways

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The blissful and beautiful walk ways gives it a remarkable place to visit. It’s one of the places anybody visiting D.C. would love to include in their list of beautiful places to visit.

6. Beautiful view

 

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The view behind Cherry Blossom gives it a nice looking and pleasurable and satisfying to the eye site of the memorial building.

7. The Fascinating Sunset View

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The interesting view of the memorial at sunset is awesome. This is what will entice one to visit the park and just sit under the beautiful trees to enjoy the sunset and probably have an amazing evening walk.

More importantly, Jefferson memorial has a Panoramic view during a beautiful cloudy sunset.

8.  Washington D.C’s Most Popular Beach

The Tidal Basin, where the Jefferson Memorial is located was once a summertime swimming spot. It offered diving and cabana platforms but only for the white community.

The fact that it only opened for the while people, raised a controversy. The congress approved funding for a similar swimming area for African-Americans. The debate against this multiplied hence the Tidal Basin was closed for everybody.

However, the place is no longer fit for swimming since the beach closed 1925.

9. Originally a memorial for President Theodore Roosevelt

After the beach closed in 1925, architects were invited to design a memorial that would honor President Theodore Roosevelt. Architect John Russell Pope won the design.

A beautiful design with two quarter circle colonnades flanking a large circular basin. This was to contain a central island with an arrangement of a sculpture and a fountain.

It was meant to be a 200-feet tall jet of water fountain. Unfortunately, the government could not allocate any budget for such a memorial. The idea, consequently did not materialize.

10. $3 million Project

A New York Congressman John J. Boylan campaigned for the creation of the Jefferson Memorial.

He was accorded the mandate to chair a commission to oversee the building of the Thomas Jefferson memorial with an approved budget of $3 million.

This is how the contractor from Philadelphia ended up wining the contract and building the most magnificence memorial at Washington D.C. near the White House.

Nevertheless, the Architectural  design of John Russel Pope was outstanding. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial designed awarded him a fourth position in The American Institution of Architects.

The $3 million worth Jefferson Memorial is under the management of National Park Service of the United States of America Department of Interior.