United States Capitol

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For other uses of "Capitol Hill," see Capitol Hill (disambiguation).

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.

1 History of the Capitol Building
2 The Rotunda
3 The Capitol grounds
4 House Chamber
5 Miscellany
6 Major Events
7 See also
8 External links

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History of the Capitol Building

Photo of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC, December 2003.

The Capitol when first occupied by Congress, 1800.

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 U.S. Capitol under construction, 1860.

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.

The U.S. Capitol as it appeared in 1856, before reconstruction

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.

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The Rotunda

The Apotheosis of Washington

Located in the center of the building, topped by the capitol dome, is the Capitol rotunda. At the top of the dome is Constantino Brumidi's fresco, the Apotheosis of Washington. Various people have statues in the rotunda, including Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant. The rotunda of the Capitol is the only place where Americans can lie in state.

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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.

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House Chamber

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

In order clockwise around the chamber:

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Miscellany

Capitol Hill has been the site of many major events, which draw thousands to the lawn in front of the U.S. Capitol

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.

Currently a multimillion-dollar subterranean visitors center is being constructed. Work began in 2001, and it is expected to be completed in 2006. The project has been criticized for being delayed for years and for costing significantly more than initial estimates.

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

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Major Events

Ronald Reagan lying in state

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 in the Capitol Rotunda. Among them:
- President Abraham Lincoln (1865)
- President James Garfield (1881)
- President Warren Harding (1923)
- President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft (1930)
- President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1963)
- General Douglas MacArthur (1964)
- President Herbert Clark Hoover (1964)
- President Dwight David Eisenhower (1969)
- Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (1969)
- Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (1972)
- President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1973)
- Vice-President Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1978)
- Officers Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson (1998)
  - Chestnut was the first African American ever to lay in state in the Capitol.
- President Ronald Reagan (2004)
- Civil rights icon Rosa Parks (2005)
  - The first woman and second African American to lay in state in the Capitol.