White House design influenced by Irish architecture and Kilkenny home

A new episode of the White House Historical Association's 1600 Sessions Podcast has been released about Kilkenny man James Hoban, the designer of the White House. It explores, White House builder James Hoban’s Irish Roots and features Stewart McLaurin, President of the Association, who travels to Hoban’s birthplace to discover the architectural styles and designs that influenced the young Irishman before he left Ireland.

Born in Callan in 1755, Hoban was raised near Desart Court, the estate of the Earl of Desart. He worked as a wheelwright and a carpenter until his early 20s when he managed to secure an ‘advanced student’ place at the Royal Dublin Society School of Drawing in Architecture, paid for by the Desart family. There he studied under Thomas Ivory, a significant figure in the building of Georgian Dublin, who would be a strong influence on Hoban’s career. Hoban excelled at his studies and was presented with a medal in 1780 by the Duke of Leinster for his drawings of architectural details.  

Local folklore says that Hoban also designed the Palladian Rossenarra House near Kilmoganny in Kilkenny in 1824, although there is  no actual evidence of this. The painter Sir Joh Lavery died there in 1941 as he was a relation of the owners. 

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After the American Revolution Hoban emigrated to the US and by 1795, had established himself as an architect in Philadelphia. He travelled to South Carolina in 1787 where he was responsible for many buildings including the Charleston County Courthouse. This building so was admired by George Washington while he was on his Southern Tour in 1791 that he subsequently summoned Hoban to Philadelphia (the then temporary capital) in 1792. 

There, Hoban was named the winner of a competition to design the President’s new home. His original drawings featured three storeys and a nine bay facade, but under the influence of Washington this was changed to two storeys and an 11 bay facade. Washington also insisted that the entire front of the mansion be faced in white stone. 

By all accounts a modest yet capable man, Hoban was appointed to also supervise the construction of the President's residence at a salary of 300 guineas a year and remained in Washington for the rest of his life. In total the Kilkenny man devoted 29 years of his life to the White House, including a rebuild from 1815 to 1829 after a fire, when his use of white paint to camouflage the blackened building gave rise to the name, White House. 

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In the report, Stewart McLaurin speaks to a number of Irish people about James Hoban’s life, influences  and background, including Laurie Grace of the James Hoban Society of Ireland, Brother Christy O’Carroll of Callan, Ciaran O’Connor the State architect and architects Merlo Kelly and Brian O’Connell. 

Laurie Grace, outlines Hoban’s early life near Callan and how the spectacular design of Desart Court possibly influenced his design of the White House decades later. He also highlights how the very high standard of architecture in Dublin in that era shaped Hoban’s aesthetic and how prestigious buildings such as the Royal Exchange (now Dublin City Hall) and Leinster House would have influenced the young Hoban too.

The modern monument to Hoban constructed in 2008, near his birthplace (to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth) also features prominently.

Ciaran O’Connor, the State architect, describes how Palladian architecture was the defining architectural style of Ireland at the time and how Leinster House (then the home of the Duke of Leinster) was a prime example. Merlo Kelly, shows Stewart the  interior of the old Newcomen Bank building near City Hall. Records show that Hoban, worked for Ivory on the design of the building and its three oval rooms have distinct echoes of the oval rooms he would later feature in the White House building. She explains how Hoban also absorbed influences relating to form, detailing and clever use of space from the Dublin building. 

Finally architect Richard O’Connell talks about the Rotunda building on Dublin’s Northside and its influence on Hoban. He describes how Richard Cassels, a German brought the Palladian style to Ireland and explains how it is grounded in geometry and symmetry with columns a notable design feature. O'Connell explains how Palladian buildings typically have  a central axis or bay flanked by extensions of columns or wings on either side. Another characteristic of these buildings is that they become more refined as the building goes up, often culminating in an apex. He reveals that all of these elements were used by Hoban in the White House design. 

George Washington wanted the White House to make a statement and be a house suitable for the first gentleman. As an 18th century landowner he was aware of the classics and architecture and wanted a building that would convey the status of the presidency. Both he and Hoban as former citizens of the British Empire, would have been influenced by the styles favoured by aristocrats such as the Duke of Leinster in Ireland, and Hoban had the skill to re-imagine this type of design in an American context.  

Hoban was also employed at times to supervise the construction of the Capitol as well as other public and private buildings in Washington. In his personal life, he married a Susannah Sewell, with whom he had ten children, one of whom James,  later became district attorney in Washington.

James Hoban died in Washington in December 1831 leaving an estate worth $60,000. His life had exemplified the 'rags to riches' of the American dream: he had certainly travelled a  long way from the cottage on the Desert estate to creating an iconic and enduring symbol of American power at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The episode can be viewed at https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-white-house-1600-sessions/white-house-builder-james-hobans-irish-roots