section_path: Early history/Architectural competition
section_name: Architectural competition
paragraph_text: Architectural competition
  
  The President's House was a major feature of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the newly established federal city of Washington, D.C. After L'Enfant's dismissal in early 1792, Washington and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, who both had personal interests in architecture, agreed that the design of the President's House and the Capitol would be chosen in a design competition.
  
  Nine proposals were submitted for the new presidential residence with the award going to Irish-American architect James Hoban. Hoban supervised the construction of both the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Hoban was born in Ireland and trained at the Dublin Society of Arts. He emigrated to the U.S. after the American Revolution, first seeking work in Philadelphia and later finding success in South Carolina, where he designed the state capitol in Columbia.
  
  President Washington visited Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1791 on his Southern Tour, and saw the Charleston County Courthouse then under construction, which had been designed by Hoban. Washington is reputed to have met with Hoban during the visit. The following year, Washington summoned the architect to Philadelphia and met with him in June 1792.
  
  On July 16, 1792, the president met with the commissioners of the federal city to make his judgment in the architectural competition. His review is recorded as being brief, and he quickly selected Hoban's submission.