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31 Fig. 6. Trumbull's suggestion for how to hang his four Revolutionary War paintings in the Rotunda appeared in a letter he wrote to Latrobe on 25 September 1817. objected to Latrobe's Rotunda, they were ignorant of the "earliest idea of the Capitol as projected by Major [Peter Charles] L'Enfant, drawn by Dr. [William] Thornton, and adopted by General Washington." 7 Mangin and McComb's much-admired two-story vestibule rotunda for the New York City Hall (1803- 1812) was Trumbull's architectural starting point for his Capitol redesign (fig. 7). Much of his six-page letter to Bulfinch described how he fundamentally rethought Latrobe's rotunda and crypt in order to provide ideal conditions for the approach and display of his four Revolutionary War paintings. The letter is also key to understanding that Busby's etchings actually reflected Trumbull's thinking, not an alternative design by Bul- finch for completing the Capitol as Brown and subse- quent scholars supposed. .8 Trumbull's response to Bulfinch contained three explanatory drawings, each described in detail in his text. "Referring to plan No. 1, I propose then to enclose the basement story of the two porticos, in the same style of piers and arches, as in the wings, and to enter, under each portico." Trumbull eliminated Latrobe's staircase and his colonnades on either side of the Portico, that is, returned to Thornton's original design. Busby's version of the East Front etching visually depicted Trumbull's written description. Deleting so many exterior columns and arches, not to mention the staircase raised on mas- sive arches, would be a great saving in public money. Trumbull knew that Latrobe's grand but expensive architectural gestures were a critical issue with Monroe and several Members of Congress. Bulfinch intended to avoid undue expenses. Trumbull believed he was providing an economical solution to complete the center building, but it was also one that would leave his architectural mark on the Capitol. History has determined that Latrobe was a greater architect than Bulfinch; Trumbull may well have felt the same as he pushed the Bostonian to adopt a spatially exciting center building closer to Latrobe's aesthetic ethos than Bulfinch's attachment to elegantly decorated surfaces. 9 Trumbull proposed entering the Rotunda at ground level via "a hall forty feet by twenty, with apartments for doorkeepers adjoining—to open a passage through the center of the building." (fig. 8) Committee rooms for both houses and a central furnace to heat all of the center building were also shown. Trumbull went on to describe the outer ring as the support for the "Ves- tibule's" (Rotunda's) wall, the double inner rings as the supports for the double circular staircases con- necting the two floors. Busby's plan of the main floor THE CAPITOL DOME