One such letter, now unfortunately lost, is referred 

 to in a letter from Latrobe to Madison on July 7, 

 1809, in which he states that he has taken "the liberty to 

 write to Mrs. Madison" since the President had 

 "formerly referred me to her for the domestic arrange- 

 ments of the house." " 



The room that Latrobe wished to make his 

 masterpiece was the handsome Oval Room, which 

 James Hoban had designed to be the most elegant 

 of the formal rooms in the White House. It had not 

 been furnished during the Adams or the Jefferson 

 administrations, and up to this time had been used 

 as an anteroom or vestibule. Work on the Oval 

 Room continued all that first summer, as Latrobe 

 proceeded to design not only the architectural fea- 

 tures and the decoration, but even the furniture, in 

 order to insure the effect he wished to create. (For- 

 tunately, Latrobe's drawings for the furniture have 

 been found among the Maryland Historical Society's 

 Latrobe papers by Robert Raley, whose article about 

 them appeared in Antiques Magazine, June 1959.) The 

 furniture was in the Greek style so admired by 

 Latrobe and follows closely designs which had 

 appeared in Hope's Household Furniture and Interior 

 Decoration, published in London in 1807. On the 

 back of one of the drawings, Latrobe wrote: "Within 

 are drawings of the chairs [see figs. 5 and 6]. I hope 

 you will be able to bend your whole force to them 

 immediately. They come a few days later than I 

 could have wished but my time is so occupied that 

 I could not send them sooner. The drawings of the 

 sofas [see fig. 7] will follow in a day or two." The 

 letter is addressed to Mr. Finlay, renowned for making 

 the handsome painted furniture for which Baltimore 

 was then famous.'' 



The National Archi\cs contain a record of the 

 account of Benjamin Latrobe with John and Hugh 



■' No copy of the missing letter is in the Maryland Historical 

 Society's large collection of Latrobe papers (where the one just 

 quoted is located), but a clue to its continuing existence is to be 

 found in the catalog of a sale of Madison documents, held in 

 Philadelphia by .Stan V. Henkels, Jr., in 1933. Item 34 is an 

 autograph letter signed by Latrobe and addressed to Mrs. 

 Madison, described as "His proposals to arrange the various 

 rooms of the White House to suit the new occupants. Also 

 detailed accounts of expenditures for china, papcrhanging. 

 changes, etc." The priced sale catalog notes that the letter was 

 sold for S25 to someone who used the name "Tom" as his 

 identification. 



8 Benjamin Henry Latrobe Collection of Papers and Draw- 

 ings (MSS, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore). Herein- 

 after cited as Latrobe paper's. 



Figure 4. — Dollev Pavne Todd Madison (Mrs. James 

 Madison) by Ezra Ames. {Photo courtesy New-York 

 Histnrirat Society, New York City.) 



Finlay of Baltimore." A bill dated .September 16, 

 1809, requests payment as follows: 



To 36 Cane Seat Chairs made to a Grecian 

 Model, painted, gilded & varnished, with 

 the Lfnited .States arms painted on each (S 

 20 720. 



lo packing the same 6. 



To 2 Sofas to match the same, double fronted. 



4 extra large casters to each, @ 80 1 60. 



i o 4 Settees as above, double fronted, 4 extra 



large casters to each, ©40 1 60. 



To packing Sofas & Settees ' b. 50 



To transporting the same by land from Baltimore 



lo Washington in a waggon & cart 22. 



To freight of the Chairs by water [remainder of 

 entry obliterated by tear in manuscript; as 

 is charge for this service] [ 1 8. ] 



To insurance of the same 8. 50 



" National .Archives, record group 217, General Accounting 

 Ofiice. Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts, account 28.634, 



\-oucher 2. 



158 



BULLETIN 24 1 : CONTRIBl'TIONS FROM THE MUSEUM UF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



