91Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 12 August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A slight indisposition having prevented my attendance at my office, I did not receive your favor of the 2 d (post mark 4 th ) till the 9 th when you would have left Monticello , and I therefore did not immediately answer it, and now direct this letter where I hope it will soon reach You. I now offer to you, with the utmost freedom, a freedom which your request, as well as your long friendship...
92To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 31 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Last night, the wind having changed suddenly to the N. West it was exceedingly cold for a short time,—and this morning the condensed vapor was found to have dropped upon the decks in 3 or 4 places in the Hall of Representatives, but in one place exactly over one of the decks, a quantity fell equal to about a Wine Glass full. On going onto the roof I found the Cause of this difference. In...
93To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 30 November 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
The very unfavorable weather of yesterday rendered it impossible for me to procure all the information necessary to compleat the enclosed report before the evening, & then, having no servant of my own here, I could not procure it to be conveyed to you agreeably to promise. In order to avoid intrusion on your time at the present near approach of the Session, I do not wait upon You. I have left...
94To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 5 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Lenthall has been so ill in health, & so much worse in humor for sometime past, that I cannot leave the Work sufficiently to compleat today the drawings necessary to explain to You the Work on the North Wing for which I have to request Your direction.—Every thing is going on well & to my utmost satisfaction excepting my situation with Mr Lenthall. He has been always in the habit of...
95To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 26 March 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I have kept the enclosed letters by me above a Week, doubtful how to act respecting the subject of them. If in sending them to You I act imprudently,—my heart assures me, that the high opinion I have of your candor alone has led me into this imprudence, and that the sincerest & most respectful sentiments accompanies them.—By them it will appear that the sum I mentioned to You in the...
96To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 14 April 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
The plaisterers in the Capitol have made so much progress that I hoped to have nothing but pleasant information to give to you on the subject of the work. But the late heavy rains and the state of our roof has made me almost despair: The arches over the lobby were all plaistered on Friday evening & one half of them had the second Coat. All the Walls of the East side of the great room were also...
97Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 12 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
My absence from Washington and the circuitous tour which your letter to me has made, has prevented its reaching my hands before the 6 th of this month. For the last 18 months I have resided at Pittsburg , engaged for M r Fulton in the agency of one of his Steam boat companies, whose object it was to establish a compleat line of boats from thence to New Orleans . But so deficient were the...
98To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin H. Latrobe, 1 April 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my last letter accompanying the designs for finishing the South Wing of the Capitol I have received an account of the passing of the appropriation Law for the completion of the public buildings. Although I did not expect this event I have lost no time in preparing the drawings, & giving the directions which are now become necessary; and I presume that Mr Lenthall is already engaged in...
99To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 29 April 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Having now made all the arrangements necessary to enable Mr Lenthall to carry on the work during my absence, I shall this evening leave Washington by the Mail, and return in about 3 weeks, which time it will require to settle my affairs in Philadelphia so as to remove my family hither. The state of the work is this. The plaisterers are employed in every part of the Office story excepting three...
100To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 14 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
The important business which engages you, induces me to anticipate what I presume to be one of the objects of your wish to see me,—namely to explain to you the state of the fund for the south wing of the Capitol:— My estimate (from memory) stood thus South wing 25.000.— Due from the North wing, at least 5,000— From the Offices of State, War, {—3,000
101To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 25 November 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
The difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of freestone, of a quality suitable to the construction of the interior of the House of Representatives, and of its communications, which I stated and explained to you in my report of the 22nd. day of December 1805, has rendered the completion of the South wing of the Capitol, so that it could be occupied by the House during the approaching...
102To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 22 March 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I herewith have the honor to send you two Copies of my report on the public buildings, the statements being corrected agreeably to your observations. It has been delayed by the copyist, & is even now not as fair, as I could have wished. With the highest respect Yrs. faithfully DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
103To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 31 January 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 29th. relative to the Glass supplied to you from the public Stock, was received on Sunday and I have since then searched all the papers belonging to the office for an account of it, an employment which took up the whole of yesterday, & part of this morning before I succeeded. I hope this will plead my apology for the late answer to your note. It was Mr Lenthall’s habit to...
104To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 7 November 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I do not leave Washington till Tuesday next, before which period I hope to have the pleasure to wait upon you. The House of Representatives, exhibited only one leak in the Dome, but a very bad one in the flat under the dome at X [GRAPHIC IN MANUSCRIPT] at the NE Corner. The rain poured in a stream into the lobby. I think it can be easily cured, & probably arose from a drift of Snow. The...
105To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 5 July 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Agreeably to your desire, I have exerted myself to collect Workmen (Stonecutters) in this city, but have not yet obtained more than two, who will set off as soon as they can finish a small job which they are now about.—I called the Master Stonecutters together, & was so fortunate, as to obtain their promise to assist me in ascertaining the Character of the Men I may find willing to go to the...
106To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 27 November 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr Lenthall did not put the drawings of the proposed alteration of the North Wing of the Capitol into my hands till this moment. I have in the limits of the recess been attentive to the caution you formerly gave me on the subject of the Center part of the Work, and they are contracted within the line that bounds the North side of the South Recess, at the angle of which stands the pilaster...
107To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 13 March 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Latrobe offers his most respectful compliments to the President UStates & sends his annual report for consideration. It has taken up the whole of his time & attention for the last two months.—The accounts may be perhaps more clearly stated but their result is correct.— Mr L. will have the honor of waiting on the President on Wednesday morning for his further instructions unless it should...
108Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 28 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the , & am much gratified by the approbation you express of my drawings. I hope you will do me the favor to let me know which of the pavilions you approve for your first work of next spring; with a sketch of its dimensions and its plan, that I may send you the working drawings & the details a t large. Some months ago, I sent to Jefferson & Gibson of Richmond a...
109Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 1 August 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Having received your very acceptable letter of the 14 th of April in the midst of the hurry & anxiety of my departure for Philadelphia , I did not acknowledge its receipt untill after my arrival in that city; and then only cursorily, and with a wish that my silence might not appear to have been the effect of insensibility to your kindness. I remained in Philadelphia more than six weeks,...
110Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 19 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Two days before I left Washington , I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 14 h of April .—This letter was of two much importance to me to be hastily answered amidsst amidst the hurry of the preparations necessary to my leaving Washington , and I brought it with me hither in hopes that I should find more leisure than at home to say to you all that is upon my mind in relation to the...