William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck Table of Contents Chapter Six: Hallet Dismissed  57. In 1948 the White House was gutted prior to a complete renovation. The building is about the size of the North Wing of the Old Capitol. This photo gives an idea of the shallow sandstone foundation of both building (be sure to click photo to enlarge it. Meanwhile by the fall of 1793 the first story of the President's house had been built. The man who deserved most of the credit was an elderly emigrant from Scotland related to a Georgetown tavern keeper. Collen Williamson came down from New York City and supervised both the quarrying of stone down river and the mostly Scottish emigrants who cut and laid the stone. He boasted of building stone castles in Scotland and assured the commissioners that no bricks were needed. James Hoban, an emigrant from Ireland who had won the design contest for the building, hired a crew...

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck Table of Contents Chapter Five: Design by Committee and an Epidemic 46. Jefferson in 1791 At the end of a February 1, 1793, letter to Commissioner Daniel Carroll, Secretary of State Jefferson remembered "Poor Hallet, whose merit and distresses interest every one for his tranquility and pecuniary relief." Up to that point in the letter, Jefferson had effectively buried Hallet's dreams with expressions of joy over Thornton's design which " has so captivated the eyes and judgment of all as to leave no doubt you will prefer it when it shall be exhibited to you; as no doubt exists here of it’s preference over all which have been produced, and among it’s admirers no one is more decided than him whose decision is most important. It is simple, noble, beautiful, excellently distributed, and moderate in size. " 1 That said, Jefferson assured Carroll t...