To James Madison from Samuel Lane, 22 August 1816
From Samuel Lane
Copy
Washington August 22, 1816
Sir
I regret the necessity of troubling you for directions respecting a late proposition of Mr Latrobe. That gentleman has surprised me by proposing to carry up part of the wall of what has been denominated the Central building of the Capitol, in other words to protrude the wall of the north wing upon the centre in order to enlarge the area of that wing. This, he says, is absolutely necessary to ennable him to introduce the new arrangement of the interior of the North wing which was sanctioned by a resolution of the Senate at their last session.1 The enclosed draft will I hope give a clear view of the subject.2
Notwithstanding Mr Latrobe persists in representing this measure as one long ago decided upon to me it is entirely new, and having consulted the late Commissioners it appeared to be equally new to them. I have some reason to suspect that it is an after thought to prop up the Vestibule of the north wing, the perilous state of which I once pointed out to you Ignorant how far the authority under which the repairs of the public buildings are making would justify an addition to them. Ignorant too whether this particular measure had ever received your approbation or had even been submitted to your consideration, I would respectfully request your attention to it and to be favored with early instructions. If the wall is to go up preparations should in my opinion have been made sooner in the season and I know of nothing which ought to have delayed them.
Mr George Boyd of the war Department goes out to London on public business, and has politely offered to execute some commissions for me, which will not only give us the benefit of Mr Boyd’s judgement and taste in the selection of the articles but they will come to us on better terms than we can procure them through any other channel. With a view to these advantages I am anxious to ascertain of what material the covering of the Presidents House and Capitol ought to be composed. If it is one which should be imported I can avail myself of Mr Boyd’s services Upon this subject there appears to be a diversity of opinion among artists. Mr Latrobe suggests the following list giving preference in the order in which they stand, Marble, Freestone, Zink, Iron, Copper. Capt. Hoban is decided in favor of Copper which Mr L. puts at the bottom of his list. It is of no consequence to add that my individual opinion coincides with the Captain’s. May I be favored with your directions on this point. I have the honor to be &c
S. Lane
FC, two copies (DNA: RG 42, entry 1, General Records, Letters Received by the Commissioner of Public Buildings); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 42, entry 6, General Records, Letters Sent by the Commissioner of Public Buildings). For enclosure, see n. 2.
1. Lane referred to a resolution, first introduced on 2 Mar. 1816 and finally adopted in amended form on 3 Apr. 1816, that the Senate “approve of the alterations suggested for the enlargement of the Senate room, and the better arrangement of the offices of the Senate; and that the plan of the proposed alterations drawn by the surveyor of the public buildings, together with a copy of the resolution, be transmitted to the President of the United States” (, 14th Cong., 1st sess., 167–68, 280, 296–97).
2. Lane appears to have written this letter after receiving a 13 Aug. 1816 letter from Benjamin Henry Latrobe to the Commissioners of the Public Buildings discussing the enlargement and reconstruction of the Senate wing of the Capitol (DNA: RG 42, entry 1, General Records, Letters Received by the Commissioner of Public Buildings; 3 pp.). Latrobe referred the Commissioners to an 1807 plan for “the completion of the whole Capitol” which the president had not seen fit to adopt at that time, and he mentioned that in his discussions with the Senate in March 1816, he had felt “bound by the terms of the plan of 1807,” annexing “a copy of so much of it as points out the lines of the Centre together with so much of the South wing as corresponds to the part of the North Wing proposed now to be carried up.” “From this,” Latrobe continued “it will appear and from the explanations written upon the plan itself that if the suggestion of the Senate to be carried into execution the addition is necessary and inevitable that without it there will be no Stair-case to the Senate chamber in the upper Story—and that by that omission one very principal object of the Senate will be defeated which was to obtain a very easy ascent to their Chamber, and this impossible in the space now allotted to the ruined Stair case on account of the interruption of Doors that cannot be dispensed with.”
Latrobe continued that he had explained this to the Senate and to the Commissioners, though his “recollection” as to the latter was “not so perfect on this point as on the former. For it was on [his] Suggestion to the Committee and in order to effect the alterations suggested by both Houses of Congress, that a clause was inserted in the law relative to the public buildings authorizing the President [of the] U.S. to make such alterations in the plans of the Public Bldgs as he might think proper.” […] “So much” was Latrobe “under the impression that this work was to be carried up” that he had not informed the Commissioners “of the commencement thereof and of the measures necessary to effect it.” He might have “taken steps toward it as a matter of course, especially as the stone for the foundations has been procured and is on the spot, and the estimates of bricks is included in that heretofore submitted.” […] “That it has not been sooner commenced has arisen from the necessity of removing as much of the damaged walls adjoining as was requisite and the impossibility of sparing the room which is narrow untill the rubbish could be removed.”