Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/433760
THE CAPITOL DOME 45 Fig. 4. Watercolor sketch of St. John's Episcopal Church (1816) by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Note that the President's House in the background is depicted as a burnt-out shell. S T. JOHN'S EPIS COPAL CHURCH L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S PRIN T S AND PHOTO GR APHS DIVISION Fig. 5. Hall section, door elevation, and reflected ceiling, watercolor drawing by Benjamin Henry Latrobe for Decatur House, 748 Jackson Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. of that area of the city, including Van Ness and Tayloe as well as William Seaton, the editor and proprietor of the National Intelligencer. A pew was offered for the use of President James Madison and has since been available for the use of any subsequent president. In 1818 Decatur House (figs. 5 and 6), also designed by Latrobe, was built at the northwest corner of the Presi - dent's Park. Almost square, it carried on the architect's strict commitment to simple geometric classical design but did not have the pediments char- acteristic of the Greek style. Stephen A. Decatur was born in 1779 while his father, a merchant captain, was a naval officer in the Revolutionary War. Decatur joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1798, serving under Commodore Barry while involved in the Quasi-War with France during President John Adams's administra - tion. He was a lieutenant in the First War with the Barbary Pirates while