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 11: Rivaling Tayloe Mrs. Thornton by Stuart 1804 That Thornton regretted the death of the General was obvious. The entire nation mourned. However, Thornton had more to mourn. The General had adopted his Capitol design and made him a commissioner. He lost his patron who had opened the way to fame. Yet, he had not been asked to design his Capitol Hill houses. Of course, Thornton knew of a more coveted commission that was to come. He had fancied that he had walked over Square 21 with the General and discussed the houses they would one day build. How easily he could picture another walk with the General over the square. If still alive, he might have asked Thornton to design his house. What evidence is there that Thornton clung to a future that could never be? Sometime after 1802, as disappointments accumulated which emphasized the catastrophic loss of his...

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck   Table of contents  Chapter Ten: The Ingenious A 116. Law's 1800 house became the fulcrum of the New Varnum Hotel Thornton never claimed in writing that he designed the houses built by Thomas Law, General Washington and John Tayloe for which ground was broken in 1799. No contemporary credited him for designing those houses. But no one else claimed credit or was credited for designing the houses. His biographers give Thornton a good excuse for not stepping forward. Although he never put it quite this way, while his design for the Capitol fulfilled a duty to his adopted country that could never shame a true gentleman, Thornton feared that being a practicing architect would tarnish his reputation as a gentleman. So, while he bragged about many accomplishment, he did not claim credit for designing the houses of his gentlemen friends. His biographers find evidence that he...