Thomas Jefferson, a self-taught architect who studied classical architecture in books and in France, shaped American architecture with his neoclassical designs for Monticello, the Virginia State Capitol, and the University of Virginia. At Monticello, his self-proclaimed "essay in Architecture," he had the site cleared in 1768, produced the drawings, assembled a team of hired and enslaved workmen, and supervised construction, then spent more than 40 years designing, remodeling, and enlarging the house. He began to design and build the first Monticello in 1770, before his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton, in a strict neoclassical style with double-storied porticos on opposite sides derived from the work of Andrea Palladio, though evidence suggests the house was never finished; its early plans included two service wings completed in 1809. Jefferson's years in Paris as United States Minister to France from 1784 to 1789 marked a radical turning point in his architectural education, as he saw neoclassical public buildings and private houses, studied Roman temples, and formed relationships with architects and artists, leading him after his return to expand and transform Monticello. In 1796, he expanded Monticello from eight to 21 rooms, retained five first-floor rooms, widened the footprint, added a second-floor mezzanine to create four floors including the cellar, and crowned the building with the earliest residential dome in the United States. The house was essentially completed in 1809, although the West Portico columns did not replace temporary tree trunks until 1823. During the remodeling, enslaved laborers dug the foundations for the L-shaped wings that extended from either side of the house over submerged service spaces including the kitchen, smokehouse, dairy, carriage bays, stables, and slave quarters, preserving mountaintop views, removing distracting service buildings, and providing sheltered passageways between the house and work spaces; a small pavilion stood at the end of each wing, with living or office space above and work space below. The South Pavilion was the first brick structure built on the mountaintop, and the North Pavilion was constructed more than 30 years later. In 1826, Monticello housed at least 14 people spanning four generations from two months to 83 years old, while visitors and the movement of enslaved servants further crowded the house.