Which neoclassical architect designed the University of Virginia Rotunda?

Thomas Jefferson designed the University of Virginia Rotunda. It stands at the head of the university’s Lawn in Charlottesville and was conceived as the central library and symbolic heart of Jefferson’s “academical village.”

Jefferson modeled the Rotunda on the Pantheon in Rome, using classical proportions and a monumental dome to express the university’s emphasis on reason and learning rather than a religious chapel. Construction began in 1822 and was completed soon after Jefferson’s death in 1826. The building is about 77 feet high and 77 feet in diameter.

A common mix-up concerns Benjamin Henry Latrobe, whose earlier ideas influenced Jefferson’s planning, and Stanford White, who redesigned parts of the building after an 1895 fire. White’s reconstruction does not change the canonical answer: Jefferson designed the original Rotunda. The Rotunda and Lawn form part of the UNESCO-listed architectural ensemble associated with the University of Virginia.