United States Capitol: Encyclopedia - United States Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol is the capitol building which serves as home for Congress, the legislative branch of the United States federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., atop Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall.

The building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda and two wings, one for each chamber of Congress: the north wing is the Senate chamber and the south wing is the House of Representatives chamber. Above these chambers are galleries where people can watch the Senate and House of Representatives. There are 100 senators and 435 representatives.

United States Capitol - History of the Capitol Building

The current building is the fourth to serve as the U.S. capitol, after the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland (1783–1784), Federal Hall in New York (1789–1790) and Congress Hall in Philadelphia (1790–1800).

Construction of the current Capitol building began in 1793. It is known that George Washington laid the cornerstone, but the exact whereabouts of that stone are now unknown. The Senate wing was completed in 1800, while the House wing was completed in 1811. The Capitol building held its first session of U.S. Congress on November 17, 1800. The Supreme Court also met in the Capitol until its own building (behind the East Front) was completed in 1935. Shortly after completion, it was partially burned by the British during the War of 1812. Reconstruction began in 1815, and was completed by 1830. The architect Benjamin Latrobe is principally connected with the original construction and many innovative interior features; his succesor, noted architect Charles Bulfinch, also played a major role.

The building was expanded dramatically in the 1850s. The original timber-framed dome of 1818 would no longer be appropriately scaled. Thomas U. Walter was responsible for the wing extensions and the "wedding cake" cast-iron dome, three times the height of the original dome and 30 m in diameter, which had to be supported on the existing masonry piers. Like Mansart's dome at Les Invalides (which he had visited in 1838), Walter's dome is double, with a large oculus in the inner dome, through which one views the Apotheosis of Washington painted on a shell suspended from the supporting ribs, which also support the visible exterior structure and the tholos that supports the Freedom, a colossal statue that was added to the top of the dome in 1863. The weight of the cast-iron for the dome has been published as 8,909,200 lb of iron (4,041,100 kg). For construction details, see links.

When the dome of the Capitol was finally completed, but to a significantly enlarged design than had initially been planned, its massive visual weight overpowered the proportions of the columns of the East Portico, built in 1828. The East Front of the Capitol building was rebuilt in 1904, following a design of the architects Carrère and Hastings, who also designed the Senate and House Office Buildings. A marble duplicate of the sandstone East Front was built 33.5 feet from the old Front during 1958-1962, and a connecting extension incorporated what formerly was an outside wall as an inside wall. In the process, removal of the old entrance rendered homeless the historic Corinthian columns, until landcape designer Russell Page created a suitable setting for them in a large meadow at the National Arboretum, where they are combined with a reflecting pool in an ensemble that reminds some visitors disconcertingly of Persepolis.

Underground tunnels (and even a private subway) connect the main Capitol building with each of the Congressional Office Buildings in the surrounding complex. All rooms in the Capitol are designated as either HOB (House Office Building) or SOB (Senate Office Building), depending on whether they are north (Senate) or south (House) of the Rotunda. Additionally, all addresses in Washington, DC are designated NE, NW, SE, or SW, in relationship to the Rotunda. (Because the Capitol Rotunda is not located in the center of the District - but is rather slightly further east - this means that the four DC quadrants themselves are not the same shape and size)

On June 20, 2000, ground was broken for the Capitol Visitor Center, which is due to open in Fall 2006. Since 2001, the East Front of the Capitol (site of all Presidential Inaugurations until Ronald Reagan broke with tradition in 1984) has been the site of construction for this massive underground complex, designed to facilitate a more orderly entrance for visitors to the Capitol. (When construction is complete, the East Front will be restored to its earlier, pre-pavement appearance.) Prior to the center being built, visitors to the Capitol had to queue on the parking lot and ascend the stairs, whereupon entry was made through the massive sculpted Columbus Doors, through a small narthex (with cramped security) and thence directly into the Rotunda. The new underground facility will provide a grand entrance hall, a visitors theater, and room for exhibits, in addition to space for building necessities such as an underground tunnel for the removal of trash.

United States Capitol - The Capitol grounds

The Capitol Grounds cover approximately 274 acres (1.1 km²), with grounds proper consisting mostly of lawns, walkways, streets, drives, and planting areas. Today's grounds were designed by noted American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who planned the expansion and landscaping performed from 1874 to 1892. In 1875, as one of his first recommendations, Olmsted proposed the construction of the marble terraces on the north, west, and south sides of the building that we see today.

Olmsted also designed the Summer House, the open-air brick building that sits just north of the Capitol. Three arches open into the hexagonal structure, which encloses a fountain and twenty-two brick chairs. A fourth wall holds a small window that looks onto an artificial grotto. Built between 1879 and 1881, the Summer House was intended to answer complaints that visitors to the Capitol had no place to sit or water their horses and themselves. Modern drinking fountains have since replaced Olmsted's fountain for the latter purpose, but the horses ridden by the Capitol's mounted police unit can still occasionally be seen dipping into the original stone basin. Olmsted intended to build a second, matching Summer House on the southern side of the Capitol, but Congressional objections led to the project's cancelation.

United States Capitol - House Chamber

The House of Representatives Chamber is adorned with relief portraits of famous lawmakers throughout history.

In order clockwise around the chamber:

• George Mason
• Robert Joseph Pothier
• Jean Baptiste Colbert
• Edward I
• Alfonso X
• Pope Gregory IX
• Saint Louis
• Justinian I
• Tribonian
• Lycurgus
• Hammurabi
• Moses
• Solon
• Papinian
• Gaius
• Maimonides
• Suleiman
• Innocent III
• Simon de Montfort
• Hugo Grotius
• Sir William Blackstone
• Napoleon I
• Thomas Jefferson

United States Capitol - Miscellany

The Capitol houses a variety of works of art, including the National Statuary Hall Collection, which is comprised of statues donated by the fifty states to honor persons notable in their histories.

On July 24, 1998, Russell Eugene Weston Jr. burst into the Capitol and opened fire, killing two United States Capitol Police officers. He was later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial. In 1975, a bomb detonated in the lobby outside the Senate chamber. In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on members of Congress from the visitors gallery.

The Capitol is on the back of the U.S. $50 bill.

There are 365 steps on the Capitol, one for each day of the year.

Under the Rotunda there is an area known as the Crypt, designed to be the final resting place for George Washington. At the request of his wife, Martha, however, he was buried at Mount Vernon, and as such the area remains open to visitors.

United States Capitol - Major events

The United States Capitol, as well as the grounds of Capitol Hill, have played host to major events. Every year since 1990, people gather on the west lawn on the Sunday before Memorial Day for the National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast on PBS.

Every July 4, people gather on Capitol Hill to celebrate Independence Day.

Among the major events the United States Capitol has hosted:

• Presidential inaugurations
• Americans lying in state. Among them:
  • President Ronald Reagan
  • Civil rights icon Rosa Parks: the first woman and second African American to lay in state in the Capitol.

See also

• Architect of the Capitol
• Congressional Subway
• U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1954)
• U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1998)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "United States Capitol", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki