William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

Table of Contents     Chapter Nine: The Case of the Ingenious A 116. Law's 1800 house became the fulcrum of the New Varnum Hotel Some 42 years after Thornton and Tayloe died in 1828 and shortly before his own death in 1871, one of the three surviving children of Tayloe, who had thirteen, credited Thornton, his father's old friend and lately recalled as the "original" designer of the Capitol, for designing the Octagon. In an 1888 magazine article about the Octagon,  restoration architect Glenn Brown accepted the family legend. He also proposed the Octagon as the headquarters of the American Intitute of Architects, which was then in Manhattan. In  1896, he followed up the 1888 article with an article about Thornton's other designs, and especially cleared up doubts recently cast on Thornton's Capitol design. He  also credited him for designing and superintending construction of  two houses that the General Washington had built just north of the Capitol to hous...

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck     Table of Contents Sir Archy, an engraving of Tayloe's most famous horse In April 1797, Mr. Tayloe of Virginia rode into the city. The 26 year old head of the richest family in Virginia, as measured by land, slaves, horses, ship building and iron furnaces, had either challenged or accepted a challenge from 36 year old Charles Conan Ridgely for a match race on April 18 for 500 Guineas or $2,600. By tradition, match races were held at a spot equidistant between the opponents. Ridgely's estate was just north of Baltimore and Tayloe's estate, Mount Airy, was just north of Richmond. Nicholson's hotelier Tunnicliff, late from England, prepared a race course near the Capitol where four mile heats could have a convenient start and finish, and conform to the rules of the Annapolis Jockey Club. Two more days of racing would follow with a top purse of $200. Newspape...