United States Capitol

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Image:WashingtonDC Capitol USA2.jpg Template:Redirect The United States Capitol is the US capitol building, that serves as home for Congress, the legislative branch of the United States federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. Although not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the focus by which the quadrants of the district are divided.

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.

1 History
2 The Capitol Grounds
3 Capitol Security
4 House Chamber
5 Random facts
6 Major events
7 References
8 See also
9 External links

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History

Image:Capitol1800.jpe Image:Capitol2.jpg Image:Capitol under const.jpg 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 Capitol was built and later expanded in the 1850s using the labor of slaves "who cut the logs, laid the stones and baked the bricks."[1] The original plan was to use workers brought in from Europe, however, there was a poor response to recruitment efforts and African Americans—free and slave—comprised the majority of the work force.[2]

The Senate wing was completed in 1800, while the House wing was completed in 1811. The Capitol 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 100 ft (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 (10.2 m) 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 S (for Senate) or H (for House), depending on whether they are north (Senate) or south (House) of the Rotunda. Similarly, rooms in the Congressional office buildings are designated as HOB (for House Office Building, which are all south of the Capitol) or SOB (for Senate Office Building, which are all north of the Capitol). Additionally, all addresses in Washington, D.C. 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 farther east — this means that the four D.C. 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 Spring 2007. Since 2001, the East Front of the Capitol (site of all Presidential Inaugurations until Ronald Reagan broke with tradition in 1981) 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, room for exhibits, and dining and restroom facilities, in addition to space for building necessities such as an underground tunnel for the removal of trash.

The Capitol building is believed to have been the intended target of the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 before it crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania after passengers tried to take over control of the plane from hijackers.

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The Capitol Grounds

Image:US Capitol Building at night Jan 2006.jpg Image:United States Capitol at sunset, 2004..JPG Image:Capitol Bollards.jpg Image:US Capitol Dome High Res Jan 2006.jpg

The Capitol Grounds cover approximately 274 acres (111 ha), 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.

Olmstead 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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Capitol Security

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the roads and grounds around the U.S. Capitol Building have undergone a number of dramatic changes. Most notably, construction is well underway on an underground, 3-level, 580,000 square foot visitor center by the east face of the Capitol. The overall project budget is $517 million.

The project had long been in the planning stages, but 9-11 provided the impetus to start work. Construction was begun in the fall of 2001. Security is expected to be enhanced by directing all visitors through the center. Critics charge that security improvements have been the least of the project’s expense; and, indeed, construction delays and added features by Congress continue to add to the cost. As of January of 2005, the General Accountability Office estimated the completed cost at $559 million. The target date for opening to the public of December 2005 has come and gone, and the end of construction is hardly within sight. Citizens Against Government Waste have called it a Monument to Waste.

The Capitol Hill Police have also installed numerous “vehicle screening checkpoints” around Capitol Hill, and have closed a section of one street entirely [3]. The level of screening employed varies. On the main east-west thoroughfares of Constitution and Independence Avenues, barricades are implanted in the roads that can be raised in the event of an emergency. Trucks larger than pickups are interdicted by the United States Capitol Police and are instructed to use other routes. On the checkpoints at the shorter cross streets the barriers are typically kept in a permanent “emergency” position, and only vehicles with special permits are allowed to pass.

Finally, structures ranging from scores of Jersey barriers to hundreds of ornamental cast iron poles have been erected to obstruct the path of any vehicles that might stray from the designated roadways. Each of the poles is reported to cost $7,500.

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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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Random facts

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 (see U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1954)).

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.

There are four flags on the Capitol. Two are at the base of the dome on the East and West front. These fly 24/7. The other two are above the North and South wings of the building and fly only when the respective chamber is in session.

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Major events

Image:PeoplePayingRespectsToReagan.jpg 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 Abraham Lincoln (1865)
- President James Garfield (1881)
- President Warren Harding (1923)
- President William Taft (1930)
- President John F. Kennedy (1963)
- General Douglas MacArthur (1964)
- President Herbert Hoover (1964)
- President Dwight Eisenhower (1969)
- Senator Everett Dirksen (1969)
- Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (1972)
- President Lyndon Johnson (1973)
- Vice-President Hubert Humphrey (1978)
- President Ronald Reagan (2004)
Americans lying in honor:
- Officers Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson (1998), the two officers killed in the 1998 shooting incident (Chestnut was the first African American ever to lie in honor in the Capitol)
- Civil rights icon Rosa Parks: the first woman and second African American to lie in honor in the Capitol (2005).