THORNTON, William - b. 1759 Tortola, British Virgin Islands, d. 1828 Washington - WGA

THORNTON, William

(b. 1759 Tortola, British Virgin Islands, d. 1828 Washington)

British-born American architect, inventor, and public official, best known as the creator of the original design for the Capitol at Washington, D.C.

Thornton studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh (1781-84) and received his M.D. from the University of Aberdeen (1784). After travel on the European continent he returned to Tortola and then immigrated to the United States in 1787. In the following year he became a U.S. citizen and settled in Philadelphia. Without any formal study of architecture, Thornton in 1789 won a building design competition promoted by the Library Company of Philadelphia.

From 1790 to 1792 he was again at Tortola, where he first heard of the important competition for the Capitol at Washington. He submitted designs that were received months after the competition closed; yet the judges, not satisfied with those previously submitted, selected Thornton’s. His revised Georgian design of 1795 was executed as the exterior of the north and south wings adjacent to the central rotunda, though Benjamin Henry Latrobe completely redesigned the interiors.

From 1794 to 1802 Thornton was a commissioner of the city of Washington. He designed several residences in the city, including the Octagon (1798-1800), which was used in 1814 by President James Madison after the White House was burned. The Octagon is now the national headquarters of the American Institute of Architects.

From 1802 to 1828 he served as first superintendent of the Patent Office. He and a fellow inventor, John Fitch, were among the first developers of the paddle-wheel steamboat. In Short Account of the Origin of Steamboats (1814) Thornton defended their experiments done between about 1778 and 1790 against Robert Fulton’s later claims of first inventing a steam-powered boat. Thornton also patented eight inventions between 1802 and 1827 for improving such devices as firearms and stills.

External view (east front)

In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a design competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the “President’s House”, and set a four-month deadline. The winning design for the U.S. Capitol was submitted by William Thornton, an amateur architect. In July 1793, Jefferson convened a five-member commission to address problems with and revise Thornton’s plan. The revised plan was accepted, except that Secretary Jefferson and President Washington insisted on an open recess in the centre of the East front, which was part of Thornton’s original plan.

The original building was completed in 1800. It was partly destroyed in the 1814 burning of Washington, then was fully restored within five years. The building was later enlarged, with the addition of a massive dome, and extended wings with expanded chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in the Neoclassic style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are formally referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors and dignitaries.

The original design by Thornton was later modified by the British-American architects Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Charles Bulfinch. The current cast-iron dome and the House’s new southern extension and Senate new northern wing were designed by Thomas Ustick Walter and August Schoenborn, a German immigrant, in the 1850s, and were completed under the supervision of Edward Clark.

Latrobe is principally connected with the original construction and many innovative interior features; his successor Bulfinch also played a major role, such as design of the first low dome covered in copper.

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External view (west front)

In the late 18th century, architecture assumed an eminent role in the northern states of the newly independent colony, the United States of America. Architecture was to demonstrate the pride and self-confidence of a young, democratic society. Today the Capitol and White House in Washington are the best-known symbols from this epoch, buildings that are synonymous with government and state power. American Neoclassicism became the flag-bearer for republican ideology; by both absorbing and adapting classical forms, it was able to give tangible form to the pragmatism of the “New World.”

Competition for building a new seat of government in Washington was held in 1792. As a result, the design of the amateur architect was accepted. Thornton proposed a broad, domed building in the classical style. Because Thornton had no knowledge of building technology, the construction was initially supervised by the runner-up in the competition, Stephen Hallet. Hallet (c. 1760-1825) attempted to alter many of Thornton’s plans and was quickly replaced, first by George Hadfield and later by James Hoban, the architect who designed the White House.

The north wing, containing the Senate chamber, was completed first, and Congress convened there in November 1800. The following year Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated at the Capitol, a tradition that has been observed in all subsequent inaugurations. The remainder of the building was completed by Benjamin Latrobe, whom Jefferson appointed Surveyor of Public Buildings in 1803. Latrobe followed Thornton’s conception of the exterior closely but used his own designs for the interior. Perhaps Latrobe’s best-known additions were the unique Corinthian-style columns, whose capitals depicted tobacco leaves (symbolizing the nation’s wealth) and corn cobs (symbolizing the country’s bounty).

The south wing, containing the chamber of the House of Representatives, was completed in 1807. During the War of 1812 the Capitol was looted and burned by British troops, though rain prevented the building’s complete devastation. Latrobe began reconstruction in 1815 but resigned two years later. By 1827 his successor, the distinguished Boston architect Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), had joined the two wings and built the first copper-sheathed dome, again adhering to Thornton’s original design.

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