Monroe Hill House/Range
(Map G, Building 31 [E4])
Added to the Virginia Landmarks Registry in 2004, this property symbolizes the longstanding relationship between Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe in the founding of the University. In 1788 Monroe, then a Virginia legislator, bought 800 acres near Charlottesville, on which he constructed a building, sometimes called his law office, and then a larger Greek Revival house, in which he and his wife, Elizabeth, probably lived. By 1816, when that land was purchased to build the college that Jefferson envisioned, the Monroes had sold it and moved to the property today called Ash Lawn/Highland, but the little rise with buildings on it came to be known as Monroe Hill. A range of dormitory rooms was built in the 1840s and '50s when student enrollments outgrew the original Lawn. The buildings on Monroe Hill were ultimately converted into offices. In the 1980s it housed the University News Office and alumni magazine. In 1986, when the University established its first residential college, now called Brown College, Monroe Hill House became the college principal's residence.