[Great Hall. Detail of putti (physician, electrician, and astronomer) on the grand staircase, Philip Martiny. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.]

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.