William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

  More Excerpts from Through a Fiery Trial

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck Table of Contents Chapter Four: Design by Committee and an Epidemic 46. Jefferson in 1791 In March, accompanied by Rivardi,   Thornton went to the commissioners' meeting in Georgetown and gave them his design. They presumably saw more of the design than the president and Jefferson had seen, and the saw much more of the man who drew it. That Rivardi made a better impression boded ill for the doctor turned architect. The commissioners described Major Rivardi as "a real Enginier." He had served in the Russian Army. They kept him in mind. In January 1794 when Thornton and his design were all but forgotten, they wrote to the president that Rivardi "is not a Shewy man, but he seems to us one of those Characters, who maintains the Ground he has gained; we wish him to be introduced to you." They wanted him to level and drain the city.(1) Thornton also hand del...