Thomas Ustick Walter, Architect [1804-1887]
One of the first great architects born in America, Thomas Ustick Walter, who gained the reputation of being the most strenuous advocate of the pure classical style, was of German descent. His design and construction of Girard College, Philadelphia, one of the most dignified classical structures (Corinthian style) in our country, brought Thomas U. Walter into fame. His plans for the extension of the National Capitol having been accepted, he was appointed in 1851 by President Fillmore to superintend the work of construction in Washington, a position in which he remained for fourteen years. He designed and executed the 'great iron dome' and planned the extensions which made the United States Capitol one of the most imposing and beautiful of all government buildings in the world. During this period of service at Washington he designed and erected a number of other buildings after classical models, notably the United States Treasury Building and the east and west wings of the Patent Office. [†]
References of Walter's work ...
† Albert Bernhardt Faust, The German Element in the United States, Volume II, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1909.