The Virginia Rotunda was designed by Thomas Jefferson, who is credited with being the first American architect to seek a style expressive of the new republic. Through works such as the Virginia State House, which was based on the Maison Carree in France, he set down a precedent of modifying an ancient building style for modern use. Jefferson is credited with setting the style of monumental neoclassicism, which came to represent the new political and social entity of the United States.