William Thornton (architect)
William Thornton (born May 20, 1759 in Jost Van Dyke , British Virgin Islands , † March 28, 1828 in Washington, DC ) was a British-American architect and also a doctor, inventor, painter, and a true universal genius .
Thornton received medical training in Edinburgh , Scotland . In 1787 he emigrated to the USA . Thornton is known for being the architect of the Capitol in Washington. On July 25, 1793, his proposal was selected from 17 tenders and Thornton received the prize money of 500 US dollars.
Other well-known buildings by Thornton are the Library Company in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and the Tayloe House or Octagon House in Washington, DC, which was also once the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects .
Thornton was the Capitol's first architect and the first superintendent of the United States Patent Office from June 1, 1802 until his death in 1828.
In 1792 he received the Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society for his treatise Cadmus .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ William Thornton: Cadmus, or a Treatise on the Elements of Written Language, Illustrating, by a Philosophical Division of Speech, the Power of Each Character, Thereby Mutually Fixing the Orthography and Orthoepy. With an Essay on the Mode of Teaching the Deaf, or Surd and consequently Dumb, to Speak . In: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 3, 1793, pp. 262-331, doi : 10.2307 / 1004878 .
- ^ The Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society , website of the APS . Retrieved October 29, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thornton, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British-American architect and inventor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1759 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jost Van Dyke , British Virgin Islands |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 28, 1828 |
| Place of death | Washington, DC |