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EARLY IN THE summer of 1814 General Calvin Jones took time off from the pressures of war against the British to visit the newly completed Wickham House in Richmond. The mansion, considered "the best house in Richmond,"2 owed its elegant design to the collaboration of New England architect Alexander Parris and his mentor Benjamin Henry Latrobe.3 The observant General Jones strode through the spacious chambers, sizing up the stylish decorations, admiring the soaring skylit stair, and exploring the novel floor plan. Within a few days, he had convinced leaders in his adopted hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, to model the new Governor's Palace after the Wickham House plan. The story of the Governor's Palace illuminates the process by which high-style architecture influences provincial buildings; in particular it highlights the role of the layman, as contrasted with the architect or artisan, as a carrier of stylistic ideas.4 The relationship between the Wickham House (1811-1812) and the Governor's Palace (1814-1816) is best understood in the context of the times. Early 19th-century North Carolina suffered from such poverty and insularity that it was scornfully nicknamed "the Rip Van Winkle state" and "the Ireland of America." Its economic and cultural life was shackled by conservative leaders unwilling to tax or pay for the internal improvements, education, and transportation the state so desperately needed. The tight public purse also assured that the young state's first public buildings of the I790os were unpretentious and old-fashioned structures. In the wake of the War of i812, however, North Carolina shared in the national upsurge of patriotism and confidence, and the proponents of change and improvement enjoyed unprecedented success. The legislature authorized new public investment in internal improvements, public buildings, and even the arts, commissioning a statue of George Washington by Antonio Canova and portraits of him by Thomas Sully. Embarrassed by the old State House and governor's residence, the state focused its attention on erecting a new house for the governor and revamping the State House (1819-1821) in Grecian style to accommodate Washington's statue.5 Construction of the Governor's Palace, as it was often called, began in the midst of the war years. In May 1814 state lands were sold to raise money and commissioners were authorized to contract for a building. The building committee drafted a plan and advertised for contractors, hoping to settle on a contract