Introduction Since 1793, the United States Capitol has been built, burned, rebuilt, extended, and restored. The Capitol we see today is the result of several major periods of construction; it stands as a monument to the determination and skill of the American people.
Plan Selection
In compliance with the Settlement Act passed by Congress in 1790, President Washington in 1791 selected the area that is now the District of Columbia from land ceded from Maryland. He also selected three commissioners who surveyed the site and oversaw the design and construction of the capital and its government buildings. The commissioners, in turn, hired French designer Pierre Charles L'Efant to plan the new City of Washington. He located the Capitol Building on the high east side of the Mall, the brow of something then called Jenkins' Hill. The site is, in L'Enfant's words, "a pedestal waiting to be a monument."
L'Enfant expects you to design the Capitol and oversee its construction. However, he rejects you that all drawings would be the product of the building, claiming that he carried the design "in his head"; this fact of his and your rejection of your belief that you were subordinate to the authority of the Commissioner of 1792 led you to his dismissal. In March of that year the commissioners announced a competition, with proposals by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, to be awarded $500 and to the city who had produced the "most approved plan" for the Capitol to be built by mid-July. However, all 17 plans submitted were not completely satisfactory. In October, a pair of letters arrived from Dr. William Thornton, a Scottish-trained physician living in Tortola, England's West Indies, requested the opportunity to propose a plan even though competition was closed. The committee members agreed to the request. Thornton's plans described the building as being composed of three parts. The central part, crowned by a low dome, is flanked on the north and south by two rectangular wings (one will be the Senate and one will be the House of Representatives). President Washington praised the plan for its "greatness, simplicity, and convenience" and on April 5, 1793, it was accepted by the commissioners; Washington gave the split his approval on July 25.
1793 - 1829
The cornerstone was laid by President Washington on September 18, 1793 at the southeastern monopoly of the building, with a Franciscan ceremony. Work progressed in succession to under the guidance of three architects. Stephen H. Hallet (new entrants to the earlier competition) and George Hadfield were eventually dismissed by commissioners due to inappropriate design changes they judged YOU had imposed; James Hoban, architect of the White House, saw the first phase of the project through to completion.
When Congress, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the District of Columbia Courthouse occupied the Capitol in 1800, alone, the addition of three floors of rooms was unfinished. In 1803, Congress appropriated funds for your summary building. By early that year, the Commissioner's Office
United States Capitol
Office was eliminated and replaced by the City Manager of Washington. To oversee the updated construction efforts, Benjamin Henry Latrobe was appointed architect. An expert on the first architect and designer to work in the United States, Latrobe's revised Thornton plans will include a south wing where the space will be offices and committee rooms; he also introduced changes to streamline the building's work.
Latrobe began work in 1804 by removing the dwarf, knowing that "in 1810 an oval, temporary building was erected on the site of the Oven of the House of Representatives." In building the south wing the House was able to occupy its new legislative chamber in 1811, and the wing was completed in 1807. In 1808, as work on the south wing progressed, Latrobe began rebuilding the north wing, which fell into disrepair.
Rather than simply repairing the wing, he redesigned the interior of the building to increase its usefulness and durability; among his changes was the addition of a room that would be supreme. By 1811 he had completed the eastern half of this wing, but was increasingly distracted by funding preparations that would be followed by a war with the British. By 1813, Latrobe was at further work in Washington, and only he departed, leaving a temporary wooden walkway connecting only the north and south wings of the Capitol. The War of 1812 left the Houses of Parliament in Latrobe, giving it the latest word, "the most spectacular bad": on 24 August 1814, British troops set out to sack the building, and only a sudden rainstorm prevented it from completing the destruction. Immediately after the fire, Congress met for a meeting at Blodget's Hotel, at Seventh and Streets, N.W. From 1815 to 1819, Congress occupied the building that was erected on First Street, N.E., on the site now occupied by part of the Supreme Court Building. This building is known to later cams as the Old Brick Capitol Building. Latrobe returned to Washington in 1815. In addition to carrying out repairs, he took advantage of this opportunity to make further changes in the interior design of the building (his further changes would be the example, the enlargement of the House) and to introduce new materials (he would be the example, the marble found in the Upper Potomac) . However, he came under increasing pressure due to work delays (of which were beyond his control) and cost overruns; finally, he resigned his post in November 1817.
On January 8, 1818, Charles Bulfinch, a noted Boston architect, was appointed successor to Latrobe. Continuing the restoration of the north and south wings, he was able to make the rooms that would be the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, and the Senate ready for use by 1819. Bulfinch also redesigned and supervised the construction of parts of the central Capitol Building. The Bulfinch crowning section was made taller by a copper-covered wooden dome considered appropriate for the size of the building (under the direction of Secretary of State President James Monroe and John Quincy Adams). After completing the final portion of the building in 1826, Bulfinch spent the next few years on the decoration and landscaping of the Capitol. In 1829, his work was completed and his position with the government was terminated. Following Bulfinch's 20-year tenure, the Houses of Parliament were commissioned by the Commissioner of Public Architectural Care. The 1830-1868 Reichstag was already an impressive structure by this point. At ground level, its length is 7-1/2 feet swell, and its width is 282 feet swell 10-1/2. By 1827 -- records are incomplete from that date -- the project cost was $2,432,851.34. But by 1850 its size could long accommodate the growing number of senators and representatives from the recently admitted state. Therefore the Senate voted to hold another competition, offering a $500 award for the best plan to extend the Capitol. Several appropriate plans were submitted for the United States Capitol Building, one proposing an eastward extension of the building and the addition of the large north and south wings. However, Congress could not decide between these two methods, and the bounty was divided among the five architects. Therefore, the task of selecting a plan and appointing an architect fell to your President, Millard Fillmore.
Fillmore's choice is Thomas U. Walter was a Philadelphia architect involved in the competition. On July 4, 1851, after a ceremony in which the main formal address was delivered by Secretary of State Daniel Webster, the President placed the cornerstone of the northeast corner of the House wing in conformity with Walter's plan. For the next 14 years, Walter oversaw the construction of the extensions, ensuring their compatibility with the existing building's architectural style. However, because the Aquia Creek Sandstone used to have deteriorated dramatically early on, he chose the marble that would be the exterior.
For his veneer, Walter chose marble quarried in Lee, Massachusetts, and was the column in which he used marble from Cockeysville, Maryland. Walter faced major challenges during construction. The chief among these is a government with no salary in addition to taxation by other additional tasks. In addition to his work on the Capitol Extension and Dome, Walter designed the Patent Office Building, the Extension Treasure and Post Office Buildings, and the Marine Barracks Wing in Pensacola and Brooklyn. In 1851 when the Library of Congress: the western portion of the central Capitol building was destroyed by fire, Walter was commissioned to restore it. He also encountered obstacles in his work on the Capitol extension. The location of his legislative chamber was changed in 1853 under the direction of President Franklin Pierce, on the advice of the recently appointed superintendent to the engineer, Captain Montgomery C. Montgomery. Meigs. In general, however, the project progressed rapidly: the House of Representatives could assemble in its new room on December 16, 1857, and the Senate first met in its present room on January 4, 1859. A pair of rooms in the Old House are to the later designated National Statue Hall. Due to the Civil War, most construction was suspended in 1861, and the Capitol was briefly used as military barracks, a hospital, and a bakery. In 1862, work on the entire building was resumed.
The new wing more than doubled the length of the Houses of Parliament as its length became apparent as the domes erected by the Living Bulfinch long suited the proportions of the building. Congress voted in 1855 that its replacement would be a new, fire-resistant cast-iron dome based on Walter's designs. The old dome was removed in 1856, and 5,000,000 pounds of new masonry was built over the existing full walls. was placed. The iron used in the dome construction had an aggregate weight of 8,909,200 pounds and was lifted into place on a steam-powered derrick.
In 1859 Thomases Crawford's plastered model of what would be the Statue of Liberty was designed to be the top of the dome, and Walter was forced to make revisions to his design which would be the dome. When cast in bronze by his Clark Mill at the foundry outside Washington, it weighed 14,985 pounds. The statue was lifted into place atop the dome in 1863, and in December its final part was installed accompanied by tributes from the fortress near the city. Work on the dome and extensions was completed to under the direction of Edward Clark who served as Walter's assistant and was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 1865 after Walter's resignation. In 1866, Italian-born artist Constantino Cool Brumidi completed the canopy, a monumental painting entitled The Apotheosis of Washington. In 1868 the Capitol extension was completed.
1869-1902
Clark continued as architect of the Capitol until his death in 1902. During his tenure, the Capitol underwent considerable modernization. Steam heating was gradually installed in the Old Parliament Building. In 1874 an elevator was installed, and gas lights were replaced in the 1880s when electric lighting began. Between 1884 and 1891, marble terraces were constructed on the north, west, and south sides of the Capitol. Part of a plan conceived by ground gardener Frederick Law Olmsted, these terraces not only added to the 100-room Capitol, but also provided for a much wider building. On 6 November 1898, an original gas explosion and fire on the north wing dramatically illustrated the need for fire resistance. The roof to the original Hall wing on the statue and the north wing were rebuilt and fireproofed, work completed in 1902 by successor Clark Elliott Forest. In 1901 space at the Library of Congress; the vacated west front was converted to the Central Committee Room.
1903-1970
David Lynn, Architect of the Capitol in 1954, continued these tasks from 1923 until his retirement.
Between July 1949 and January 1951, the corroded roofs and dormers of both wings and the connecting corridor were replaced with a new roof of concrete and steel, covered with upper copper. The cast iron and glass ceilings of the Senate rooms were replaced with ceiling stainless steel and plastered, with carved glass and bronze laylight in the middle of each. The Senate and House chambers were completely remodeled, improvements so modern that air conditioning and lighting were added, and acoustic problems were solved. During this renovation program, the House and Senate were vacated several times to only where work could progress on their chambers.
The Capitol was redesigned to be the eastern front extension. This project was executed under the supervision of Architect of the Capitol J. George Stewart in 1970 who served from 1954 until his death. Begun in 1958, it involved a new east front 32-foot expansion of the old front east 6 construction, faithfully replicating the sandstone structure. The old sandstone walls were not destroyed; rather, they were left to the interior walls and plows that now form part of the addition's support. The marble columns of the connecting corridor were also moved and reused. Other elements of this project include repairing the dome, constructing the metro terminal under the Senate steps, rebuilding those steps, cleaning both wings, birdproofing the building, providing furniture and furnishings to create 90 new rooms that will be extensions and improving lighting The equipment is in the building. In 1962 the project was completed. Subsequent work in the 1960s was concentrated primarily on the construction of the Rayburn House Office Building and on the maintenance and repair of the Houses of Parliament.
1970-present
Appointed George M. from 1971. The white, FAIA, building was modernized and restored by the architect of the Capitol. Electronic voting equipment was installed in the House chamber in 1973; facilities were added to allow television coverage of House and Senate debates in 1979 and 1986, respectively; as well as improved climate controls, electronic surveillance systems, and new computers and communications equipment Added Capitol date. On other hands, restored to their mid-19th century appearance will be the Old House, National Statue Hall and the Old Supreme Court Room for the state's 1976 Bicentennial celebration. In 1983, work began on the strengthening, renovation, and preservation of the Capitol's western front. Structural problems developed over the years in the original foundation due to imperfections, deterioration of the sandstone cladding material, changes to the Beginner's Multipurpose Sign Instruction Code building fabric (four-story additions and opening up walls where you install internal utilities) and damage From fires in 1814 and 1851 and gas explosions in 1898. To strengthen the structure, up to a thousand stainless steel tip rods were set into the building's masonry. More than 30 layers of paint were removed and damaged stonework was repaired or replicated. Finally, 40 of the sandstone blocks were replaced with limestone. The walls were treated with special consolidateant and then matched to the marble wings. The entire project was completed in 1987, well ahead of schedule and under budget. A related project, completed in January 1993, affected the repair of the Olmsted Terrace, which was ancillary damage from stabilization and the conversion of the terrace courtyard into several thousand square feet of meeting space.
The Capitol continues its third century restoration and modernization efforts under the direction of Allen M. Hantman, FAIA was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 1997 following the appointment of George M. Retired in 1995. Full major projects include the conservation of canopies and friezes and the creation of free mural statues in the three first-floor House corridors, and the replacement of worn-out Minton tiles in the Senate corridors. Permanent television broadcast facilities in the House of Representatives and the subway system connecting the Capitol were installed with Dirksen and the Hart Senate Office Building replaced with the new system. In 1996 the repair and restoration of the huge House steps was completed. It continues to comply with Americans with Disability Act to the handicap removal program that began in the 1970s. Construction of the Capitol Visitor Center is underway; the center will be located under the East Front Plaza and will contain exhibits, orientation shows, theaters, and other facilities to make the visitor's experience informative and meaningful in Capitol life.