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 James Hoban was born in 1758 in Ireland, where he trained as an architect. This was Dublin’s golden age architecturally, when the Irish capital city was being transformed from a medieval to a neo classical one. The famous Georgian squares were laid out, streets were widened & magnificent public buildings were erected. The landed gentry vied to build ever-grander town houses in which to dwell for the Dublin “season”. One of the grandest town houses built at this time was for James Fitzgerald, later Duke of Leinster. The design of this mansion (now called Leinster House & home to the Irish parliament) was heavily influenced by the drawings of the great Italian, Palladio, architect to the Doges of Venice and the Medici of Florence. Many such great houses built in Ireland at this time have survived and may be visited today.
The young Hoban’s architectural education was nurtured by the architectural heritage of his native Ireland, which heritage in turn was being enriched by influences from the European mainland. So when he emigrated to the newly established United States of America in the early 1780’s he brought with him a rich and sophisticated architectural vision. While he was equipped to succeed in his profession, great successes for Hoban (as for most emigrants) took time…First he began an architectural practice in Philadelphia and he may even have opened a tavern there. Next he went to South Carolina where he designed the State House at Columbia and other public buildings both there and in Charleston. Washington not only admired Hoban’s architectural vision but also his practical skills, which produced elegant interior finishes and a superior style of residence. An architectural competition was organized by Thomas Jefferson to find the right design for the new presidential mansion (Jefferson also entered a design of his own). Hoban’s design, heavily influenced by Leinster House in Dublin, won.
James Hoban was now to build one of the world’s most famous buildings, known today as The White House.
Washington never lived in The White House. John and Abigail Adams were the first “First Couple” to inhabit the President’s House. They lived there for only four months before Thomas Jefferson took office. When Thomas Jefferson moved in, perhaps still jealous over his own design being snubbed by the original committee, he replaced Hoban with his own favored architect, Benjamin Latrobe. Latrobe altered the interior (including the addition of a wine cellar) and planned the addition of the north and south porticos. However after the building was burned by British troops in 1814, it was James Hoban who supervised its reconstruction, faithful to Jefferson’s changes. The White House has seen many other additions and re-modeling over the last two centuries.
At his death in 1831 Hoban was recognized as someone who had made an enormous contribution to Washington, not just architecturally but to many other aspects of the life of his adopted city.
We seek to honor this little known Irishman by naming our restaurant & bar after him. We have endeavored to bring to Washington a flavor of today’s Ireland with its still strong European influences. If our efforts add in any small measure to the joy and pleasure of life in this great city, then we will have been true to the spirit of James Hoban.
James Hoban & The Freemasons
As noted above, Hoban’s design for The White House was heavily influenced by the design of Leinster House in Dublin. This house was built for the Duke of Leinster who was the founding Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Ireland. (Curiously, there is a legend that the Knights Templar had been asked in 1204 by the Dukes ancestor to organize banking houses in Dublin.)Both Hoban & Washington were Freemasons and they had many discussions as to the design and symbolism of the proposed presidential residence. Hoban was a Catholic and helped establish the first Catholic Church in the city – St. Patrick's, in 1792 – and in 1820 served on the committee to erect St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill. It was a curious dichotomy, since Pope Clement XII had issued an encyclical, "In Eminenti," in 1738 threatening Catholics who became Masons with excommunication.
On Saturday, October 13th, 1792, a procession of Masons formed at the Fountain Inn in Georgetown and marched to the site of the excavated foundation of the new President’s House in the Federal City. Oddly enough, it was 485 years to the day that King Phillip IV had the Knights Templar arrested simultaneously all over France, marking the beginning of the excommunication and dissolving of the Templar order. The barest outlines of roads were still being cleared through the dense forest when the Freemasons laid the cornerstone of the first federal building in town without much public fanfare. Hoban himself was a member of Georgetown Lodge No. 9. He took part in the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone, and became the founding Master of Federal Lodge No. 15 the following year. The cornerstone of the President’s House was placed in the southwest corner of the foundation. The traditional Masonic ceremony was used, and it was presided over by Maryland Lodge No. 9’s Master, Peter Casanave. A brass plate was placed under the stone, which read,
"This first stone of the President's House was laid the 12th day of October 1792, and in the 17th Year of the Independence of the United States of America."
Signed
George Washington, President; Thomas Johnson, Doctor Stewart, Daniel Carroll, Commissioners James Hoban, Architect ,Collen Williamson, Master Mason
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Hours of Operations
Mon to Sat from 11:00am
Sun from 10:30am
Serving Lunch, Dinner
Bar Menu and Sunday Brunch
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