Thornton, William

1761 - Physician and amateur architect William Thornton was born on the 27th of May in the West Indian island of Tortola, the son of William and Dorcas (Zeagers) Thornton.

1781 - As a child he was sent to England and later studied medicine at the College of Edinburgh.

1788-1789 - He became an American citizen in Delaware on the 7th of January, was elected to the American Philosophical Society the same year, and moved to Philadelphia.

         - The building on Fifth Street south of Chestnut was erected to his design.

1790 - Thornton married Anna Maria Brodeau and returned to Tortola for two years.

1798-1817 - Among Thornton's other designs are a house for John Tayloe called The Octagon--now headquarters of the American Institute of Architects--and Tudor Place, both in the District of Columbia.

         - Woodlawn Plantation near Mount Vernon, Virginia is usually attributed to him, and for Thomas Jefferson he designed Pavilion 7 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

1828 - He died on the 28th of March and was buried in Congressional Cemetery on Capitol Hill.