Anniversary of James Hoban, Architect of the White House
In March 2021 Gary and Brian Hoban of Hoban Design marked the anniversary of the death of their distant ancestor James Hoban, who designed the White House and died in 1831.
Born in 1755, Hoban began as a carpenter in Ireland before winning a place to study under Thomas Ivory, a noted Irish architect, at the Royal Dublin Society's drawing school, where he did well and became Ivory's apprentice. He emigrated to America in 1785 and set up in Philadelphia.
President Washington ran a competition for the new presidential residence, and Hoban was named winner in July 1792. His design drew heavily on Leinster House in Dublin and was first planned as a three-storey stone building. Developed jointly with Washington, it was widened to eleven bays and cut to two storeys to meet the President's requirements.
His other work included the Charleston County Courthouse as well as the State and War Offices. Little is recorded of his later life. The piece adds that Architectural Digest had published an article on him that month.
