The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson

By Subject

ARCHITECTURE

The bill for the federal buildings passed the Representatives here by 42 to 10, but it was rejected yesterday by 9 to6 in the Senate, or to speak more exactly, it was postponed till the next session. In the meantime, spirited proceedings at Georgetown will probably, under the continuance of your patronage, prevent the revival of the bill. I received last night from Major L'Enfant a request to furnish him any plans of towns I could, for his examination. I accordingly send him, by this post, plans of Frankfort-on-the-Mayne, Carlsruhe, Amsterdam, Strasburg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyons, Montpelier, Marseilles, Turin, and Milan, on large and accurate scales, which I procured while in those towns respectively. They are n6ne of them, however, comparable to the old Babylon, revived in Philadelphia, and exemplified. While in Europe, I selected about a dozen or two of the handsomest fronts of private buildings, of which I have the plates. Perhaps it might decide the taste of the new town, were these to be engraved here, and distributed gratis among the inhabitants of Georgetown. The expense would be trifling.

to George Washington, 10 April 1791