The U.S. Capitol stands now as the world-class architectural symbol of America . More than the White House , more than thevarious monumentsthat superman Washington , D.C. ’s landscape , the Capitol building , perch magnificently for more than two C on a mound leave out the metropolis , in many waysisAmerica . It is where the legislative contaminating work of democracy is done .
The Capitol building , befitting its position , is impose by more than3 million people every year . fundament - packed tourists , osculate - in schoolkids and curious external visitors mingle over the approximately 4 acres ( 1.6 hectares ) of grounds on which the Capitol building sits .
The builder envisioned that form of interest ; if not in those number , perhaps ( they sure did n’t count on the fanny inner circle ) , they saw that the Capitol would become a symbol for the land , and thus decided that it should reflect the majesty of the theme that the United States stand for .
" As a new Carry Amelia Moore Nation it was significant to do a tone and install a forcible manifestation of the ideals and inspiration that this new body politic represented,“Christopher J. Howard , a professor in theSchool of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America , in Washington , D.C. , says via electronic mail . " Important for its own sake , but also relative to the globe in projecting a confident identity of democratic values in a new republic , mean to run and be timeless . "
Settling on exactly how those apotheosis should be architecturally expressed , though , was hardly ego - evident . It was , in the end , the result of a contest , dream up by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and gauge by Jefferson , President George Washington and the commissioners of the District of Columbia .
Picking a Design
Gallic engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant , who laid out the pattern for Washington , D.C. and the locating of the Capitol on what was then cognize asJenkins ' Hill , was expected to design the Capitol . But after he defy to submit plans — he was said to have it all planned out in his head — Jefferson suggested an open rivalry . The judges pick up 17 entrants . They were n’t thrilled with any of them .
The planscame from French , German and Italian designer ( among others ) , and all test to reflect what they thought the starter country stood for . From theLibrary of Congressarchives :
Many of those plans , if they had been realized , would have given a distinctly dissimilar flavor to the construction from what we have come to know . Irish designer James Diamond ’s imaginativeness , for example , boast a string of arched window on the first floor , and the building was cap by a meek attic .
Andrew Mayfield Carshore , a former British soldier , went relatively simple , contemplate a pre - Revolutionary Wararchitecture ( see photograph above ) .
Frenchman Stephen Hallett furnish a fancy plan in theneoclassicalstyle that was relatively well received . Until , that is , the victor came along .
William Thornton , a medico trained in Scotland , submitted a late idea — allowed by the mostly disappoint judges — that envisioned a three - section building ; a center portion top by a small dome in the style of the Pantheon in Rome , and two sections on both side of it , one for the House of Representatives and one for theSenate .
Washington lauded Thornton ’s work for its " grandeur , simpleness and public convenience . " The amateur architect ’s plans were ultimately pick out , and Thornton win $ 500 and a plot of land in Washington , D.C. for his travail .
" Thornton … was able to step in with an barrack design thought that distinctly resonated with the selection commission , " Howard says . " Part of that winner I believe is attributed to showing a design that resembles what had already been imply in Pierre L’Enfant ’s plan for Washington , D.C. , which already had leverage in terms of the strong-arm imagining of what a Capitol Building construction might foretell . "
play on the U.S. Capitol began in 1793 . By 1800 , though the edifice was n’t anywhere near finished , the Congress , the Library of Congress , theSupreme Courtand the judicature of the District of Columbia moved in . ( The Congress and Supreme Court had been meeting at Federal Hall in New York City and in Congress Hall in Philadelphia . )
American commonwealth had its permanent base .
The Capitol Then and Now
Through the years , the Capitol has undergone many change , though never straying far from Thornton ’s neoclassical vision . The building was gear up aflame by the British in theWar of 1812 , almost burning to the ground onAug . 24 , 1814 .
In the second one-half of the 19th century , a major overhaul and enlargement use up place , more than doubling the length of the Capitol . In 1856 , an almost 4,500 - long ton ( 4,082 - metric gross ton ) iron bean replaced a much smaller copper - cover wooden dome over the center section of the building . In 1863 , the 19.5 - base ( 5.9 meter ) , nearly 15,000 - Syrian pound ( 6,803 - kilogram)Statue of Freedomwas hoisted to the top of the Modern attic .
bench were supply over the years , grounds were improved , renovations were made and , in 2008 , the largest projection in the Capitol ’s history opened : a 580,000 square foot ( 53,883 hearty meters ) Visitor Center , located all underground on the east side of the Capitol , as to not ruin Thornton ’s original vision .
" The end production in many ways seems inevitable , by sexual morality of the many hoi polloi necessitate being channelize by the same essential ' unspoiled estimate ' and language , along with introductory principles and destination for our country in brain . This is rightfully a popular building and it show that as a resultant role , " Howard says . " I do believe it still abide for what Thornton and Jefferson envisioned because it is not a immanent , arbitrary software program of architectural language . It is what it was always intended to be and will continue to do so . "
