William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

    Chapter Fifteen: On the heights of Mount Chimborazo 198. Capitol 1832 In his feud with Latrobe, Thornton defended his character by citing his presidential appointments to positions of trust, and that should not be taken lightly. That he was a commissioner of public buildings lends credence to his claim in 1805, and still made today, that General Washington told him to restore his original design made in 1793. That he was Superintendent of the Patent Office lends credence to his claim that he invented the steamboat in 1789. That he held positions of trust led to his opinions on public issues being trusted. When he died, contemporaries did not mention the Capitol, where Bulfinch had designed and supervised completion of the dome, but they remembered the offices Thornton had held: "During the first Administration, he was introduced to President Washington, whose regard he conciliated, and by whom, having been appointed a Commissioner for laying out this Metropolis, and fixing his

Chapter Fourteen: Latrobe v. Thornton this chapter is being revised Glenn Brown's narrative tracing the triumph of Thornton's Capitol design described an ever vigilant commissioner assuring the completion of the North Wing as approved by George Washington. In reality, Thornton wasn't vigilant in that regard and what he unveiled before visitors to his parlor as the approved design of the Capitol had never been approved by George Washington. That the General even saw it is uncertain even though he certainly sat in Thornton's parlor.  When Purcell sneered at the elevation in the parlor as a "trophy to science" he made a good point that he likely didn't intend. That elevation and the floor plan that Thornton let Volney copy were effectively the only designs for the Capitol extant. When Hoban contemplated finishing the building he likely planned to build a South Wing with an exterior to mirror the north, and then defer to whoever would be president as to the ch