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Restoration of President Thomas Jefferson's Home
Lynchburg, Virginia
Historic Preservation Roof Framing and Skylight Reconstruction Museum Home
A Museum Quality Restoration of Thomas Jefferson's Second Home
Poplar Forest was a second plantation owned by Thomas Jefferson. The restoration involved removing any modifications and additions and reconstructing the house as it would have been at his death. The project included reproduction of an historic skylight and reframing of the original octagonal timber roof. Keith Farless participated in this project under an internship with the North Bennett Street School.
The conservation staff believed this to have been the first skylight in America. Jefferson's' writings indicate that on at least two occasions, the glass in the skylight was shattered during hailstorms. Because of this, we used restoration glass with an outer layer of bulletproof glass.
The design of the original roof was reconstituted completely from Jefferson’s writings. He designed a gutter system for this house supported by the joists which extended past the rafters. The facia had to be notched and gutter supports installed with a gradual slope to allow water to gravity feed to the downspouts. A fire and nearly 200 years of age had taken their toll on the house. Many of the walls had deflected from their original positions. We had to custom fit many of the pieces, especially the top plates to fit the shape of the walls.
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson's "other" house, Poplar Forest. Note octagonal shape and note the temporary protection for the installation of the historic skylight.
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The skylight in place. This skylight is reputed to be the first in America.
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Skylight, side view. Note "bulletproof" glazing lights in foreground, waiting to be installed. A permissible aftermarket innovation, since Jefferson complained in his notes of hail twice breaking out glass.
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Poplar Forest, architect's model.
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Poplar Forest, architect's plan.
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The octagonal plan presents complex roof geometry. It does not help at all when the 200 year old walls are deflected over 2 inches, note string.
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Note complex angle cuts for roof rafters.
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Cutting a rafter end for the octagonal roof framing. Note the half round eaves trough floating nearby, used for rough tests of President Thomas Jefferson's gutter system.
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Reconstituting Mr. Jefferson's gutter design presented issues, given all the settling and deflection the building had been subject to. Note string terminating at a plastic downspout set up for testing.
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