Étienne Hallet

1755 (age 70)

St. Soupplets, Meaux, Paris, France

Etienne Hallet came to America apparently in connection with the attempt of Quesnay de Beaurepaire, in 1786-1788, to found his sanguinely-conceived Academie des Sciences et Beaux- Arts at Richmond, with branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In Quesnay’s published Memoire (1788) the name of Hallet occurs in the list of Patrons a la Nouvelle York. The outbreak of the French Revolution put an end to the scheme of the Academy, and left Hallet stranded in America. In 1790 he was living poorly in Philadelphia, then the temporary seat of the federal government. The following year, upon the dismissal of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who had been expected to design the public buildings for the new federal capital, Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state, proposed to conduct a public competition on the lines of those he had come to know in France, and drafted a program of requirements for the Capitol building. Although this program, with the corresponding program for the President’s House, was not published until the following March, Hallet had already, before the close of the year 1791, prepared and shown to Jefferson a design for the Capitol. In this first design he created the type which was ultimately to prevail in America: a building with a tall central dome and wings for the two legislative houses. The external forms were those of the current Louis XVI style. Jefferson, in his design for the Virginia capital in 1785 had followed a different fundamental conception and fitted the elements within the body of a rectangular classical temple. This idea he probably urged on Hallet, for in the design which Hallet submitted to the judgment of the commissioners of the federal city in July 1792 he adopted the temple form. The Virginia capital had had a portico in front only. Hallet took the final step toward the classical ideal by employing a peristyle, surrounding the whole building with columns. In thus pursuing the initiative of Jefferson, Hallet was far in advance of the trend of literal classicism abroad, where the temple had hitherto only been adopted playfully, as in garden structures. Although Hallet’s temple design did not entirely satisfy Washington and the commission's, it was the one most favored among those received up to the date fixed. Hallet was retained to make revised studies with a guarantee of expenses and encouragement of success, while certain other competitors were authorized to submit further designs. Working now for the commissioners at Georgetown, Hallet produced several further sets of drawings, in some of which, incidentally, he was the first to adopt the form of the classic hemicycle for a modern legislative hall. First he revised his tample design, which had been thought too cramped, but the result, with fifty-foot columns, was judged too expensive. The dilemma of accommodations too small or scale too great caused the abandonment of the temple scheme. Reverting to his original idea, he made two designs with wings and a high dome. The first was regarded as not sufficiently classical. In the second he again followed a suggestion of Jefferson, that the new church of St. Genevieve in Paris (later the Panthéon), with its cruciform plan and monumental temple portico, offered a suitable model for the type. This design of Hallet’s was seen in Philadelphia by a new competitor, William Thornton, who hastily prepared and submitted a plan with a large central dome, which was recommended by Washington and Jefferson before it was seen by the commissioners, and was awarded the prize. Hallet received the £250 promised as second prize, and additional compensation for the extra designs he had made at the request of the Commission (a total of £500), as well as a lot in the city valued at £100. He had meanwhile made a sixth design, not seen by Washington and Jefferson, in which the dome, likewise with an interior peristyle, had been enlarged and reduced in height. It was placed not over the vestibule, but over the desired conference room on the west, which was now given the form of the ancient Pantheon in Rome. When Thornton’s design was received in Washington, it was subjected to criticism by Hallet and other professionals there on structural and practical grounds. Hallet was then commissioned, at a salary of £400 per year, to prepare a practicable revision of Thornton’s plan and to supervise the erection of the building. The name “Stephen Hallette” on the cornerstone laid September 18, 1793, seems to indicate the pronunciation of his name by his American contemporaries. Now arose a misunderstanding, for while the authorities regarded the new design as Thornton’s rendered into practical form, Hallet supposed it “owed its adoption to its total difference from the other. ” It kept the dome over the western conference room, as in his sixth design. Since the recessed front which Hallet proposed in these was disliked, he was led to lay the foundations of the central part of the edifice with a large square open court, not unlike that of the Hotel de Salm. This action appears to have been a principal cause of his dismissal by the commissioners on June 28, 1794. Certain drawings still required were furnished by him in November and December of that year. His dismissal led to a series of appeals to the President from his wife, by which it appears that three children of theirs had died in Washington, and that the family was in want. Small payments of various claims for services were made, the last on June 19, 1795. Hallet lingered in the city, occupied with the invention of a crane for raising stone and with other models, until August 1796, after which time he drops from sight.

Étienne Sulpice Hallet

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also known as Stephen Hallet

architect

Background

Stephen Hallet was born in 1755 in France.

Education

The Almanach Royal for 1786 listed Hallet as one of three admitted the previous year to the class of Architectes Experts-jurés du Roi lre Colonne - a class second only to the Academicians.

Career

Etienne Hallet came to America apparently in connection with the attempt of Quesnay de Beaurepaire, in 1786-1788, to found his sanguinely-conceived Academie des Sciences et Beaux- Arts at Richmond, with branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In Quesnay’s published Memoire (1788) the name of Hallet occurs in the list of Patrons a la Nouvelle York. The outbreak of the French Revolution put an end to the scheme of the Academy, and left Hallet stranded in America.

In 1790 he was living poorly in Philadelphia, then the temporary seat of the federal government. The following year, upon the dismissal of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who had been expected to design the public buildings for the new federal capital, Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state, proposed to conduct a public competition on the lines of those he had come to know in France, and drafted a program of requirements for the Capitol building.

Although this program, with the corresponding program for the President’s House, was not published until the following March, Hallet had already, before the close of the year 1791, prepared and shown to Jefferson a design for the Capitol.

In this first design he created the type which was ultimately to prevail in America: a building with a tall central dome and wings for the two legislative houses. The external forms were those of the current Louis XVI style. Jefferson, in his design for the Virginia capital in 1785 had followed a different fundamental conception and fitted the elements within the body of a rectangular classical temple. This idea he probably urged on Hallet, for in the design which Hallet submitted to the judgment of the commissioners of the federal city in July 1792 he adopted the temple form. The Virginia capital had had a portico in front only. Hallet took the final step toward the classical ideal by employing a peristyle, surrounding the whole building with columns. In thus pursuing the initiative of Jefferson, Hallet was far in advance of the trend of literal classicism abroad, where the temple had hitherto only been adopted playfully, as in garden structures. Although Hallet’s temple design did not entirely satisfy Washington and the commission's, it was the one most favored among those received up to the date fixed. Hallet was retained to make revised studies with a guarantee of expenses and encouragement of success, while certain other competitors were authorized to submit further designs.

Working now for the commissioners at Georgetown, Hallet produced several further sets of drawings, in some of which, incidentally, he was the first to adopt the form of the classic hemicycle for a modern legislative hall. First he revised his tample design, which had been thought too cramped, but the result, with fifty-foot columns, was judged too expensive. The dilemma of accommodations too small or scale too great caused the abandonment of the temple scheme. Reverting to his original idea, he made two designs with wings and a high dome. The first was regarded as not sufficiently classical. In the second he again followed a suggestion of Jefferson, that the new church of St. Genevieve in Paris (later the Panthéon), with its cruciform plan and monumental temple portico, offered a suitable model for the type. This design of Hallet’s was seen in Philadelphia by a new competitor, William Thornton, who hastily prepared and submitted a plan with a large central dome, which was recommended by Washington and Jefferson before it was seen by the commissioners, and was awarded the prize. Hallet received the £250 promised as second prize, and additional compensation for the extra designs he had made at the request of the Commission (a total of £500), as well as a lot in the city valued at £100. He had meanwhile made a sixth design, not seen by Washington and Jefferson, in which the dome, likewise with an interior peristyle, had been enlarged and reduced in height. It was placed not over the vestibule, but over the desired conference room on the west, which was now given the form of the ancient Pantheon in Rome.

When Thornton’s design was received in Washington, it was subjected to criticism by Hallet and other professionals there on structural and practical grounds. Hallet was then commissioned, at a salary of £400 per year, to prepare a practicable revision of Thornton’s plan and to supervise the erection of the building. The name “Stephen Hallette” on the cornerstone laid September 18, 1793, seems to indicate the pronunciation of his name by his American contemporaries. Now arose a misunderstanding, for while the authorities regarded the new design as Thornton’s rendered into practical form, Hallet supposed it “owed its adoption to its total difference from the other. ” It kept the dome over the western conference room, as in his sixth design. Since the recessed front which Hallet proposed in these was disliked, he was led to lay the foundations of the central part of the edifice with a large square open court, not unlike that of the Hotel de Salm. This action appears to have been a principal cause of his dismissal by the commissioners on June 28, 1794. Certain drawings still required were furnished by him in November and December of that year.

His dismissal led to a series of appeals to the President from his wife, by which it appears that three children of theirs had died in Washington, and that the family was in want. Small payments of various claims for services were made, the last on June 19, 1795. Hallet lingered in the city, occupied with the invention of a crane for raising stone and with other models, until August 1796, after which time he drops from sight.

Achievements

Etienne Hallet is famous as the author of a plan for the future Capitol in Washington, D. C. in form of a giant dome to Thomas Jefferson. However, his submissions received the second prize, and the design of William Thornton was favored in 1793. Hallet then worked as supervisor for Thornton, until he tried to force some of his own designs.

Connections

Etienne Hallet was married to Mary (Gormain) Hallet.

Spouse:: Mary (Gormain) Hallet

References

Glenn Brown's History of the United States Capitol (Materials That Matter)

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Étienne Sulpice Hallet

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