Festival Hall, West stairway, and Statue of Thomas Jefferson, St. Louis World's Fair

Founding fathers wanted the United States to be a complete break from the past and English influences. Jefferson saw architecture as an artistic declaration that the United States was unique and not European. The inspirations for his architectural views were the classic civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. The “Age of Reason” architects were drawn to the symmetry, clean lines and mathematical preciseness of Greek and Roman buildings. Jefferson probably had the largest architectural library in the United States.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commonly known as the Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904, was the last great international exposition before World War I. The fair, built on a 1,200 acre site, included hundreds of thousands of objects, people, animals, displays, and publications from 62 exhibiting countries and 43 of the 45 states. The setting of world records, such as the largest organ, and working displays of every important technological advance were significant design goals. The Fair was a combination of trade show, civic showpiece, and monument to culture, along with more than a tinge of American pride. The Fair showcased the grandiose ambition of the gilded age, forming a kind of collective tribute to the nineteenth century's international understanding of the furtherance of peace, prosperity, and progress. It's a grand snapshot in time of American and foreign societies as they wished to portray themselves.