Share
Incidental Architect: William Thornton and the Cultural Life of Early Washington, D. Cu , 1794-1828 (Perspectives on the art and Architectural History of the United States Capitol)
Gordon S. Brown (Author)
·
Ohio University Press
· Paperback
Incidental Architect: William Thornton and the Cultural Life of Early Washington, D. Cu , 1794-1828 (Perspectives on the art and Architectural History of the United States Capitol) - Gordon S. Brown
Choose the list to add your product or create one New List
✓ Product added successfully to the Wishlist.
Go to My Wishlists
Origin: U.S.A.
(Import costs included in the price)
It will be shipped from our warehouse between
Monday, July 15 and
Monday, July 22.
You will receive it anywhere in United Kingdom between 1 and 3 business days after shipment.
Synopsis "Incidental Architect: William Thornton and the Cultural Life of Early Washington, D. Cu , 1794-1828 (Perspectives on the art and Architectural History of the United States Capitol)"
While the majority of scholarship on early Washington focuses on its political and physical development, in Incidental ArchitectGordon S. Brown describes the intellectual and social scene of the 1790s and early 1800s through the lives of a prominent couple whose cultural aspirations served as both model and mirror for the city’s own.When William and Anna Maria Thornton arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1794, the new nation’s capital was little more than a raw village. The Edinburgh–educated Thornton and his accomplished wife brought with them the values of the Scottish Enlightenment, an enthusiasm for the arts, and a polished urbanity that was lacking in the little city emerging from the swamps along the Potomac. Thornton’s talents were manifold: He is perhaps best known as the original architect of the Capitol building, but he also served as a city commissioner and as director of the Patent Office, where his own experimentation in steam navigation embroiled him in a long-running dispute with inventor Robert Fulton.In spite of their general preoccupation with politics and real estate development, Washington’s citizens gradually created a network of cultural institutions—theaters, libraries and booksellers, music venues, churches, schools, and even colleges and intellectual associations—that began to satisfy their aspirations.Incidental Architect is a fascinating account of how the city’s cultural and social institutions were shaped by its earliest citizens.
