Which architect won the design competition for the United States Capitol in 1793?

William Thornton won the design competition for the United States Capitol in 1793. His late submission was praised by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for its grandeur, simplicity, and beauty, and it was formally approved in April 1793.

The competition began after Pierre Charles L’Enfant was dismissed from the federal city project. Thomas Jefferson helped solicit designs for both the Capitol and the President’s House, offering a prize of $500 and a lot in the new Federal City. Several architects entered, including the trained French architect Stephen Hallet, whose proposals were considered promising but too elaborate and expensive.

Thornton was an amateur architect and physician rather than a conventionally trained professional. His design drew inspiration from the east front of the Louvre and the Pantheon in Paris. The building changed substantially after his selection: Hallet revised parts of the plan, and later architects including Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch altered and expanded the Capitol. Those later contributions can cause confusion, but Thornton is the canonical answer for the 1793 competition.