Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-05-29

duce strangers not only to a comfortable and
well appointed, but TO properly served and
nicely kept, presidential mansion"
NNE of Hobans greatest friends was DR..
~ William Thornton. the young physician
with such a fair for architecture that he an
swered newspaper advertisement in the Spring
of 1892, which offered premium Of a lot IN the
City o. Washington and $500, or a medal of
that value, fo- the most approved plan" for
Capitol BUILDING to be erected in the Federal
City. This Advertisement was signed by
Thos johnson, DID Stuart, DanI Carroll, Com
missioners.
When these gentlemen opened Dr. Thorn
tons plans in the presence of President Wash
ington there was no hesitancy in awarding him
the prize. Thomas Jefferson. who was then
Secretary of State and leading authority
architecture, exclaimed, after examining the
Capitol plan: The grandeur, simplicity and
beauty CT the exterior the propriety with which
the apartments are distributed and the economy
in the mass Of the whole structure recon-
mended this plan"
The winning of this competition was a
turning point in DR.. Thorntons life He had
been born of English parents, May q, 1851,
on the Island of Tortola in the West Indies.
He was sent to England to be educated. Later
he studied medicine at Edinburgh University
and from there he went TO Paris and continued
his scientific studies. Always however, he had
shown a marked ability to draw and where
ever he travelled he made especial study Of
the buildings. His biographers disagree as to
exactly how much actual architectural train
ing he had But it is not argument of
much note for, at mast, it was but three
months. His general education. his wide
travels and his naturally scholarly nature
should not be overlooked
At the time Dr. Thornton won the COMPETE
ton for the Capitol he was a practicing physi-
clan in Philadelphia The following year Pres
WaSh ipta !,
mission in charge Of the construction of the
Capital City and he moved to Georgetown. Be-
cause DR.. Thornton admittedly not a
trained architect, the far-sighted Washington
appointed a practical French trained architect
by the name Of Halet to execute the work. On
September ID, 1898. at a gala barbecue, the
corner stone of the Capitol was laid.
DR.. Thornton seems to have forgotten COM
pletely about his practice Of medicine at this
time. His whole energy was concentrated on
the building of the Capitol. jealousy he guard
ed his ideas for the Federal Building, which
contained chambers not only for the Supreme
Court and Congress but also for the Congress
sional Library and Courts Of the District Of
Columbia. Friction soon developed between
Mr. Hallet and DR.. Thornton and the former
was dismissed George Eadheld his successor
as architect in charge Of the construction Of
the Capitol, no better content to solely
supervise and not make changes. There was
another bitter struggle which lasted two years.
James Hoban, close friend of Thornton's and
in sympathy with his ideas was appointed to
the post.
The Capitol was not DR.. Thornton's only gift
to the beauty of Washington Tudor House,
in Georgetown, and the Octagon House, at
Eighteenth street and New York avenue are
other examples Of his ingenuity. Aside from its
merit as house, the Octagon has played an
important historical role. 1t here that
President James Madison lived after the British
burned the White House in 1914, and in the
upper circular room of the building the peace
treaty concluding the War of 1912 was signed.
George Hadfield the young architect who had
so many differences with DR.. Thornton when
the Capitol was under construction, gave a