1794 - Architecture, Real Estate

Architecture, Real Estate

Architect-inventor William Thornton is appointed commissioner of the Washington, D.C., and proceeds with construction of the Capitol building whose cornerstone was laid last year. Since Thornton knows nothing about building technology the competition's runner-up, Stephen Hallet, is appointed to supervise construction. Hallet will be dismissed for making too many changes in Thornton's design. Thornton himself will revise it next year. Irish-born Charleston architect James Hoban, 32, has won a $500 prize for his design of the city's executive mansion in a public competition that was probably rigged. he will succeed Hallet, and other architects will make subsequent changes (see 1800; Latrobe, 1803).