Built: 1793-1829 Cost: At least $2,432,851.34 -- records are incomplete Designed by: Doctor William Thornton Type: Government Building Maximum Height: 288 feet / 88 meters Washington, United States
C opied dozens of times in smaller state capitols across the country, the U.S. Capitol is the real thing. Inside this 19th century neoclassical complex the Senate and the House of Representatives create the laws that govern the nation. Like many other buildings in Washington, DC -- and in capitals around the world -- the U.S. Capitol is based on ancient Greek and Roman designs, as much of our culture, law, and language is. The south wing of the building contains the chambers of the House of Representatives. The north wing is home to the Senate. They meet at the Rotunda, under a grand dome, famed for its odd acoustics and less-so for its 108 windows. The dome is 180 feet three inches tall and 96 feet wide on the inside. On the outside, it is topped by the Statue of Freedom. Beneath the dome is the National Statuary Hall, which contains some of the nation's most important paintings and sculptures of significant historic figures. Above, the dome is decorated with a fresco called "The Apotheosis of Washington" by Constantino Brumidi. Before this was an open area for public gathering and formal ceremonies, it once served as the chamber of the House.
Before then, it was just a wooden passageway. Construction of the capitol was perpetually behind schedule, and no part of the building was completed before it was occupied by various government offices. By 1813 there was a north wing and a south wing, but not much else except the aforementioned wooden passageway. The architect at the time left town proclaiming the capitol, "a most magnificent ruin." The British thought it needed to be ruined a little more, and tried to burn the place down in 1814. Damage was sufficient that congress had to relocate to a hotel, and then a temporary building now known as the "Old Brick Capitol." This wasn't the first catastrophe to befall the building. In 1898 a gas explosion and fire ripped through the north wing.
The Capitol sits 88 feet above the Potomac River level on 120.2 acres of land formerly part of the state of Maryland. Daniel Carroll of Duddington was paid £25 an acre for the land. Before it was Maryland, the District of Columbia was part of the territory of the Manahoacs and Monacans subtribes of the Algonquin indians.
The Capitol building has been through a number of architects for a number of reasons. Politics, money, and the simple passage of time caused many men's great ambitions and dreams to come into vogue then fade as political fortunes changed. The first major expansion of the capitol was planned in 1850 because the addition of new states meant new senators, representatives, and their staffs. Thomas U. Walter was charged with the project, and he undertook the task of expanding the north and south wings and replacing the original 1824 wood and copper dome with one made of cast iron. This dome had the advantage of being fireproof, but the disadvantage of weighing 8,909,200 pounds. It is supported by 5,214,000 pounds of masonry on top of the Rotunda walls. The wood from the old dome was burned to power steam derricks to lift the new dome. The new dome had to be redesigned when the Statue of Freedom arrived from Rome. Instead of being 16 feet nine inches tall, it was 19 feet six inches tall. The platform it sits on had to be widened and the overall dome height reduced from 300 feet to 287 feet.
Walter's workload increased further in 1851 when a fire gutted the portion of the building housing the Library of Congress. Other difficulties also stood in his way. The building's original sandstone had deteriorated significantly. So for his restoration, he went with marble from Maryland and Massachusetts.
The ghost of a worker killed when he fell from the dome while building the Capitol has been reported floating around the rotunda carrying a tray of tools.
The ghost of a worker sealed alive into the walls of the Capitol has been reported in the Senate chamber.
On one occasion, a guard reported that the statues in the rotunda came to life and moved around the room.
The sighting of the spirit of a black cat in the basement has been known to precede national tragedies like assasinations and stock market crashes. The same things is said of a spirit cat in the basement of the White House. It is unknown if this is the same phantom, or a confusion of the tales.
The ghost of a soldier has been seen in the rotunda. He salutes, then vanishes.
The mural under the capitol dome is called The Apotheosis of Washington.
The cornerstone of the Capitol was laid 18 September, 1793 by President George Washington.
Running water was installed in 1832.
Gas lights were installed in the 1840s.
Electric lights were installed in the 1880s.
The first elevator was installed in 1874.
The ceilings of the House and Senate chambers are stainless steel covered with plaster.
Before there was a capitol in Washington, DC, congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; York, Pennsylvania; Princeton, New Jersey; Annapolis, Maryland; Trenton, New Jersey; and New York, New York.
During the Civil War, the Capitol building was used as a military barracks, a hospital, and a bakery.
The capitol is 751 feet, four inches long and 350 feet wide.
It is 288 feet tall.
There are 540 rooms with 658 windows and 850 doorways.
During renovation in the 1980s more than 30 layers of paint had to be removed.
Flags have flown over the eastern and western fronts of the building 24 hours a day since World War I.
The Statue of Freedom is located at precisely 38' 53" 23.31098 N x 77' 00" 32.62262 W.
The Capitol grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park.
There are more than one hundred types of plants on the Capitol grounds.
More than 30 states have sent ceremonial trees to be planted there.
7,837 plants were planted in the first major organization of the Capitol grounds. Many were stolen, vandalized, or eaten by roaming cattle.
1969: Guards are posted at the capitol for the first time.
June, 2001: A 140-year-old mystery has been solved. William D. Mohr has managed to decode the journal of Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, an Army engineer who chronicled the political battles behind the construction and expansion of the U.S. Capitol. Meigs kept his notes in Pitman shorthand, which fell out of favor not long after. Until now modern scholars have been unable to read the notes because there is no one left who can read Pitman shorthand. Mohr's translation will be published by the Government Printing office.
September 11, 2001: The Capitol is closed to the public when terrorists attack the Pentagon.
October 15, 2001: Tours of the capitol are suspended after an anthrax-laden letter shows up in a Senator's office. Several people are infected.
December 8, 2001: Tours of the U.S. Capitol have resumed. They were suspended in September, 2001 after the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, but the House and Senate Galleries remained open. Security has been tightened and only guided tours are permitted. Gone are the days when a long-haired teen with a backpack and a disc camera could wander the halls for hours and marvel at the institution, as some of our staffers did in their youth. Among the items that are verboten: backpacks; along with cans, bottles, and any kind of sprays from mace to Redi-Whip to fix-a-flat.
December 27, 2001: In a show of sympathy and solidarity, the United States Congress plans to convene in New York City in 2001. The last congressional held in New York was from 1789 to 1790 when New York was still the capitol of the nation. It’s the first time congress has left the Capitol in Washington, DC since the British burned it down during the War of 1812.
March 21, 2003: Tours of the U.S. Capitol are suspended because of the war in Iraq.
shirrley broome
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 @ 7:26pm
Rating: Five stars. breath taking.& proud tobe an american.not too many people know about the history of the freedom statue.
Mark Levinson
Monday, June 7th, 2004 @ 12:51pm
Rating: Four stars. A symbol of freedom and democracy, no matter what the people inside do.
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shirrley broome
Five stars.
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