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 Seven: Thornton v. Hadfield 84. Hadfield's simplification of the 1793 Conference Plan When Hadfield signed his employment contract on October 15, 1795, he "requested permission in the presence of the full board" to give them his opinion "respecting the state of the building, after having procured the designs and examined the work." On October 27, he reported that there were "defects that are not warrantable, in most of the branches that constitute the profession of an Architect, Stability - Economy - Convenience - Beauty...." Given the recent collapse of the Capitol’s foundation walls, Hoban had to react to the stability of his work being impugned. Hadfield also criticized “material inconveniences in the apartments, deformity in Rooms, chimneys and windows placed without simmetry, and no oeconomy of space.” Then,...

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck   Table of Contents     Chapter Six: Walls Fall Down 72. Robert Morris house in Philadelphia where the president lived and worked While Thornton left Hallet stewing  in his little stone house next to the Capitol, he could not avoid Hallet's pretensions once he got to Philadelphia. In mid-February, 1795, the New York Minerva, immediately followed by the Boston Orrey and Philadelphia's Gazette of the United States, printed a three part "Essay on the City of Washington." Since it was also printed in French, one scholar suggests that Hallet wrote it. However, Greenleaf had several French employees including a "Mr. Henry" who he paid to project ideas about the world capital soon to be built. Another Greenleaf brother-in-law, Noah Webster, was publisher of the Minerva. The essay primarily celebrated the economic and cultural importance of the city, and ...