Hoban's White House ; Exhibit Celebrates Irish-American Architect

Summary

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Everyone recognizes the White House, but few can name the Irish- American who designed it. The opportunity to get to know James Hoban (1758-1831), the least documented of the nation's first architects, is now being offered at the White House Visitor Center in a small exhibition organized by the White House Historical Association for the 250th anniversary of Hoban's birth.

Except for a model of the White House, the exhibit tells the story of his career through text panels filled with reproductions of drawings and photographs without benefit of historical artifacts related to the architect.

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Hoban's White House ; Exhibit Celebrates Irish-American Architect

Such originals, it turns out, are extremely rare. Most of Hoban's personal and business papers were lost in a fire in the 1880s, leaving historians with scant resources to narrate a full biography. Only two of his architectural drawings for the executive mansion survive...

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