The physician who designed the U.S. Capitol and tried to resurrect George Washington.

Art · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: William Thornton was a polymath whose life spanned medicine, architecture, and invention. Though he lacked formal training, his design for the United States Capitol won a national competition. Yet, his legacy is equally defined by his eccentric attempts to revive the dead and his controversial tenure at the Patent Office.

Born in 1759 in the British Virgin Islands, William Thornton was raised in a strict Quaker environment in England. Despite his family's expectations for a practical career, he nurtured a deep interest in the arts of design. After qualifying as a physician in 1784, he moved to the United States, where his career took a dramatic turn. In 1793, his design for the U.S. Capitol was selected by President Washington, who praised the plan as noble and beautiful. Thornton served as a Commissioner of the Federal District, overseeing the early construction of the nation's capital, and later designed iconic structures like The Octagon House and Tudor Place.

Thornton’s intellectual curiosity often bordered on the bizarre. Following the death of George Washington in 1799, Thornton proposed a radical plan to resurrect the former president. He suggested thawing the frozen body, inflating the lungs with air, and transfusing lamb's blood into his veins. Although he remained convinced that restoration was possible, the plan was rejected. His professional life was similarly unconventional; as the first Superintendent of the Patent Office from 1802 until 1828, he was known for both his dedication and his ethical lapses. He famously saved the Patent Office from destruction during the British burning of Washington in 1814 by standing before a cannon and shaming the soldiers, yet he was also accused of abusing his position to claim credit for inventions like John Hall’s breech-loading rifle.

The complexity of Thornton's character is further highlighted by his shifting relationship with slavery. Initially an abolitionist who sought to lead free black Americans to Sierra Leone, he later became a slave owner in Washington, D.C., frequently purchasing and hiring enslaved people. His life remains a study in the contradictions of the early American republic, where a single individual could simultaneously contribute to the nation's architectural identity and engage in practices that fundamentally undermined its stated ideals of liberty.

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