Table of Contents: Case of the Ingenious A

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, an architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, helped his own career by making William Thornton 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 blacks to Africa; a philosophical career in Philadelphia with Fitch's steamboat, a two day study of architecture, marriage and back to Tortola  

Chapter Three: "What is Become of L'Enfant?" (1777 to 1792) - An interlude tracing the conception and planning of the City of Washington with a focus on L'Enfant whose fall allowed Thornton to rise 

Chapter Four: The Tortola Design (1790 to 1793) Thornton writes "a Treatise on the Elements of Written Language"and, after drawing a dud in Tortola, lands in Philadelphia, and, with help, draws a winning design for the US Capitol.

Chapter Five: Design By Committee (1793) - Architects Stephen Hallet and James Hoban challenge and change Thornton's design; Thornton flirts with Revolution and flees yellow fever 

Chapter Six: Hallet Dismissed (1794-5) - and the president appoints Thornton to replace a retiring Commissioner; James Greenleaf brings architects, including William Lovering.

Chapter Seven: While Thornton is a Commissioner, Lovering Builds (1794-1795) -   and George Hadfield is hired to build Hallet's revision of Thornton's design  

Chapter Eight: Walls Fall Down (1795) - Thornton perplexes the president by living in Georgetown, harassing a former commissioner and letting the foundation walls collapse

Chapter Nine: Hoban v. Hadfield (1795-1797) - and Lovering  designs the Twenty Buildings  

Chapter Ten : Tayloe Wins a Race (1797) and buys a building lot; Thornton buys lots nearby, moves to the city and rents a house. He shares his vision of the city with the retiring president. 

Chapter Eleven: The "Ingenious A" (1798): Lovering designs Law's largest house. General Washington designs two houses. Thornton fails to get his colleagues to attest that he had restored his Capitol design.

 

Chapter Twelve: Designing the Octagon (1798-9): Lovering escapes his debts and designs the Octagon. Thornton tries to get Hoban fired 

Chapter Thirteen: On the Heights of Mt. Chimborazo (1802-1828) Latrobe designs and builds the South Wing, and sues Thornton for libel; Thornton runs the Patent Office for his greater glory; He fights Robert Fulton but not the invading British. He lobbies for South American revolutionaries and remembers Dr. Dodd

 

Sources: I provide links to those available on-line

Illustrations: I will provide links to those available on-line

Index

Acknowledgements:  Mandy Katz reminded me that the 1790s is a living presence in the city. Don Hawkins continues to be an inspiration. His work on the Capitol design is seminal in correcting the current misconceptions. While by no means smitten by the bricks and stones of the old Federal City, in his Morris's Folly, Ryan Smith shared his love of several of the characters who shaped it. He also read an early draft of this effort and opined that it was worth it. The Mount Vernon library's curator Dana Stefanelli, with his enlightened policy of putting requested documents on-line immediately, shared a clue that cracked the case of the Ingenious A. Finally, though he comes in for much criticism in this book, we are all indebted to C. M. Harris for his transcribing the Papers of William Thornton.