William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

Table of Contents page 215 (continued) 141. A miniature of Thornton by Robert Field, ca. 1800 On May 16, 1799, George Washington rode up to see an open purse race in Alexandria. William Thornton and Thomas Law were there, too. At the end of the race, Thornton and Law  went to Mount Vernon with Washington and stayed three nights. The purse was only for 55 Virginia Pounds, evidently not money enough to attract Tayloe whose best horses raced page 216 elsewhere that weekend.(1) Work had just begun on Tayloe's house. Work on Washington's two Capitol Hill houses as well as on Law's largest house started two weeks or so earlier. There is no evidence that the conversations at Mount Vernon turned to houses. Looking for social occasions when Thornton might have shined in that regard is important because there is nothing written that suggests, let alone proves, that he had anything to do with designing those houses. If he had, how could he not have talked about it? Judging from a l

The Case of the "Ingenious A" Or Why William Thornton Didn't Design the Octagon House and Isn't the "First Architect of the Capitol"  By Bob Arnebeck Figure 1: Described as Thornton's first take on the Octagon design, based on an entry in Mrs. Thornton's diary, it is most likely his design for his own house to rival the Octagon. (Library of Congress)   Introduction:  How Glenn Brown (1854-1932), a not otherwise remarkable architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, helped his own career by making William Thornton (1759-1828) the most famous American architect of the 18th century.  Chapter One:   A Tale of Two Properties (1755 to 1786) Lancaster, Tortola and a Scientific Education - The roots of Thornton's wealth, his Quaker education, medical degree and mentors  Chapter Two:   Going to Africa Via Boston (1786-1790) - His reaction to his Tortola slave plantation and his secret plan to take America's, but not his own, blacks