The White House, Washington and the Chateau of Rastignac, France
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third President of the United States of America, main writer of the Declaration of Independence, was a talented architect and archeologist. He was Minister to France from 1785 to 1789 where he had for friend the famous architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau. When Jefferson visited Bordeaux in 1789 and namely the “Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture”, he saw a copy of a drawing for a chateau due to be built in 1780 near La Bachellerie in Dordogne. The owner, Marquis de Chapt de Rastignac, had to leave France to escape the guillotine. Some historians say that Jefferson was inspired by the Chateau of Rastignac for the construction of the White House in Washington, which began in 1792. The Chateau of Rastignac was only built from 1812 to 1817 by Mathurin Salat, suffered a lot during WWII, was listed only in 1946, restored in 1952 and recently bought by a Dutch family. It is now a private estate.
The similitude is really extraordinary. Already in 1962, a guide to the White House noted a link on Hoban's drawing of the South Portico with the Chateau of Rastignac. Hoban however never travelled to France, but it has been made certain that Jefferson shared his discovery with George Washington, Hoban, Monroe and Latrobe.
Another house, “La Maison Carrée d'Arlac”, located near Bordeaux, in Mérignac, resembles the White House very much. It is a Palladian mansion with hemispherical peristyle and columns opening on a salon in rotunda with a cupola. There is a circular gallery for musicians in the salon. Built from 1785 to 1789 this house might have inspired the Chateau of Rastignac as well. The “Hôtel de Salm” (1782-1788), Museum of the Legion of Honor, in Paris can also be compared to the White House.
So, who copied what? The most important is that we can still admire these marvellous monuments.
