Washington, dc basic Site Info Ford’s Theatre
Extending the Building for a Growing Congress
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- The Architecture and Decoration
- The Nation’s Stage
Extending the Building for a Growing CongressAlthough the Capitol was considered completed in 1826, by 1850 the need to enlarge the building became evident following the enormous territorial growth of the nation. With a rapidly expanding Congress it was obvious that the building was too small. In 1850, Senator Jefferson Davis introduced an appropriation bill to enlarge the Capitol. President Millard Fillmore selected architect Thomas U. Walter to construct large northern and southern wings containing new legislative chambers. As work progressed, Walter also designed a new cast-iron dome to better suit the enlarged building. By 1868 the larger building was completed, and the grounds were subsequently enlarged. The nation and its government, however, continued to grow, and more space was needed. In 1897 the Library of Congress moved out of the Capitol into its own building, making space for new committee rooms. In the 20th century, separate buildings were constructed to provide offices and committee rooms for the House and Senate. The Supreme Court moved into its own building in 1935. Today’s Capitol complex includes the Capitol, six major House and Senate buildings, three Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court Building, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and other facilities. In 1958–1962 the east central front of the Capitol was extended to add 90 new rooms. The Capitol has continued to grow. In the late 20th century, as the number of visitors grew, Congress recognized the need for better visitor amenities and accessibility, improved safety and security, and better opportunities for citizens to learn about their Congress and Capitol. The construction of the new Capitol Visitor Center began in 2001. Opening in 2008, the Capitol Visitor Center fulfills the need as a place for visitors to gather and view exhibitions and films, participate in guided tours and special events, greet their members of Congress, and see up close their government at work. The Architecture and DecorationThe heart of the Capitol is the Rotunda, a 96-foot-diameter circular hall surmounted by the Capitol’s inner dome. Visible through the eye of the dome, 180 feet above the floor, is a massive fresco painted by Italian artist Constantino Brumidi. This mural, entitled The Apotheosis of George Washington, consists of a portrait of the nation’s first president rising to the heavens flanked by the allegorical figures of Liberty/Authority and Victory/Fame. Brumidi also designed and started painting the frieze at the top of the Rotunda walls depicting events in American history. The Rotunda is the major stop on the Capitol tour. National Statuary Hall was originally the Hall of the House of Representatives, but in 1864, after the current House Chamber was built, it was dedicated to the display of statues. Each state was invited to contribute two statues to honor individuals of historical significance. There are now one hundred statues in the collection, which is displayed throughout the Capitol and the Capitol Visitor Center. The Old Supreme Court Chamber has been restored to its 19th-century appearance. The Crypt, directly below the Rotunda, holds statues donated by the original thirteen states. The Nation’s StageThe U.S. Capitol is our national stage. Today the process of seeking solutions to the nation's problems and unleashing the nation's possibilities unfolds here. The activity that goes on in this building is the center of our experiment in political freedom. The Capitol is the scene of some of the nation's most important public events, from solemn memorial ceremonies to exciting July Fourth concerts. In the Rotunda, hushed mourners have honored presidents and others who have lain beneath the magnificent dome. Congressional gold medals are awarded here to outstanding individuals. And, in the shadow of the dome, the grounds are the nation's most public platform. From lone orators to masses of demonstrators, people come here to be heard. No other building so strongly symbolizes the freedom to speak one's mind. Today the Capitol reigns as a monument to freedom and a reminder of the power of the people. The Supreme Court Here we have the Supreme Court building, the home of the third branch of the U.S. Federal Government, the Judicial Branch. Yet surprisingly, despite its role as a coequal branch of government, the Supreme Court was not provided with a build ing of its own until 1935, the 146th year of its existence. Initially, the Court met in the Merchants Exchange Build ing in New York City. When the National Capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Court moved with it, establishing Chambers first in the State House (Independence Hall) and later in the City Hall. When the Federal Government moved again, in 1800, to the permanent Capital, Washington, the District of Columbia, the Court again moved with it. Since no provision had been made for a Supreme Court Building, Congress lent the Court space in the new Capitol Building. The Court was to change its meeting place a half dozen times within the Capitol. Addition ally, the Court convened for a short period in a private house after the British set fire to the Capitol during the War of 1812. Following this episode, the Court returned to the Capitol and met from 1819 to 1860 in a chamber now restored as the “Old Supreme Court Cham ber.” Then from 1860 until 1935, the Court sat in what is now known as the “Old Senate Chamber.” Finally in 1929, Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, persuaded Congress to end this arrangement and author ize the construction of a permanent home for the Court. Architect Cass Gilbert was charged by Chief Justice Taft to design “a building of dignity and importance suitable for its use as the permanent home of the Supreme Court of the United States.” Neither Taft nor Gilbert survived to see the Supreme Court Building completed. The construction, begun in 1932, was completed in 1935, when the Court was finally able to occupy its own building. The Court Building cost less than the $9,740,000 Congress authorized for its construc tion. Not only was the final and complete cost of the building within the appropriation, but all furnishings were also procured, even though planners had initially expected that the project would require additional appropriations. Upon completion of the project, $94,000 was returned to the Treasury. One of the few projects completed by the U.S. Government under Budget! The court building even includes a gym with a full-sized basketball court on the very top floor, nicknamed “the highest court in the land.” Additionally, in 2002 a wild fox actually managed its way into the building. Even though it was seen on video surveillance, it eluded capture for one day, causing the court to close. The Library of Congress The Library of Congress was established by an act of Congress in 1800 when President John Adams signed a bill providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. The legislation described a reference library for Congress only, containing "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress - and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein…" Established with $5,000 appropriated by the legislation, the original library was housed in the new Capitol until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol Building, burning and pillaging the contents of the small library. Within a month, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science"; his library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States. In offering his collection to Congress, Jefferson anticipated controversy over the nature of his collection, which included books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other topics not normally viewed as part of a legislative library. He wrote, "I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer." In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, appropriating $23,950 for his 6,487 books, and the foundation was laid for a great national library. Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Librarian of Congress from 1864 to 1897, applied Jefferson's philosophy on a grand scale and built the Library into a national institution. Spofford was responsible for the copyright law of 1870, which required all copyright applicants to send to the Library two copies of their work. This resulted in a flood of books, pamphlets, maps, music, prints, and photographs. Facing a shortage of shelf space at the Capitol, Spofford convinced Congress of the need for a new building, and in 1873 Congress authorized a competition to design plans for the new Library. In 1886, after many proposals and much controversy, Congress authorized construction of a new Library building in the style of the Italian Renaissance. When the Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public on November 1, 1897, it was hailed as a glorious national monument and "the largest, the costliest, and the safest" library building in the world. Today's Library of Congress is an unparalleled world resource. The collection of more than 130 million items includes more than 29 million cataloged books and other print materials in 460 languages; more than 58 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings. House of Representatives Office Buildings The Cannon House Office Building, completed in 1908, is the oldest congressional office building as well as a significant example of the Beaux Arts style of architecture. The Cannon Building was occupied during the 60th Congress in January 1908. By 1913, however, the House had outgrown the available office space, and fifty-one rooms were added to the original structure by raising the roof and constructing a fifth floor. In 1962 the building was named for former Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-IL). Cannon was well known for transforming the Speaker of the House to one of the most important roles in American Government. He used his authority broadly to prevent bills from being discussed on the House floor, effectively ending debates on certain issues. Then, in March of 1910, Cannon’s detractors attempted a coup to remove him from power. They gathered in the House Chamber at a time when few Cannon supporters were present, to begin a quorum to effectively remove him from power. Without enough votes to save Cannon’s seat, one of his allies initiated a filibuster to prevent the vote from occurring until enough Cannon allies were present. The filibuster lasted 26 hours. Why so long? It just so happened that the attempted overthrown occurred on St. Patrick’s Day and many of Cannon’s supporters were Irish!! Next, we have the Longworth House Office Building. Completed in the spring of 1933, the Longworth is the second of three office buildings constructed for the United States House of Representatives. When the Longworth Building was completed, it contained 251 congressional suites, 5 large committee rooms, 7 small committee rooms, and a large assembly room now used by the Ways and Means Committee. It was in this room, which seats 450 persons, that the House of Representatives met in 1949 and 1950 while its chamber in the Capitol was being remodeled. The building was named in 1962 in honor of Nicholas Longworth (R-OH), who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives throughout the late 1920s. Longworth was popular on both sides of the aisle for his Teddy Roosevelt-esque progressive ideology appealing to moderates everywhere. One historian sums up Longworth: "Debonair and aristocratic, given to wearing spats and carrying a gold-headed cane, he was anything but a typical politician. He was perpetually cheerful, quick with a joke or witty retort, and unfailingly friendly. He seemed never to have a care and made hard decisions with such ease and detachment that some people wondered if anything at all really mattered to him." Known for having a bald, shiney head… a House colleague once ran his hand over his head and said “Nice and smooth. Feels just like my wife's bottom." He quickly returned, “it does, doesn’t it?” Finally, we have the Rayburn House Office Building, completed in 1965. Its named after Speaker Sam Rayburn, who, in 1955, introduced the bill appropriating a Third House Office Building.
The United States Botanic Garden traces its beginning to 1816, when the constitution of the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C., proposed the creation of a botanic garden to collect, grow, and distribute plants of this and other countries that might contribute to the welfare of the American people. The Institute's garden was established by Congress in 1820 to the west of the Capitol Grounds, essentially where the reflecting pool is today. In 1842, the idea of a national botanic garden was reinvigorated when the return of the United States Exploring Expedition to the South Seas (the Wilkes Expedition) brought to Washington a collection of living plants from around the globe. Plants taken from this expedition are still on display today (or at least their offspring!) The Garden was moved to its present location in 1933. Here, you can find its most famous plant: the corpse plant. The Corpse Plant is this flower that blooms only once every 12 years. When it does, it emits this terrible, disgusting odor; which, for whatever reasons, attracts people from around the country. Garfield Statue Garfield (1831-1881) served with distinction in the Union Army during the Civil War. He left the army on his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1863. He was later nominated as the Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1880 and won (by only 10,000 votes) over Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock. At the same time, he was serving in the House of Representatives, the citizens of Ohio elected him to the Senate, while the nation elected him President. This means, at one point Garfield was president-elect, senator-elect, and member of the House of Representatives. Garfield was even a licensed and ordained minister in Ohio who knew three languages fluently. He was known to do a trick at parties where he wrote a sentence in Greek with his right hand, a sentence in Latin with his left, and speak phrases in German at the same time! Sworn into office in March 1881, he immediately began handing out government positions to supporters. One such supporter was Charles Guiteau who handed out flyers to prospective voters in the election of 1880. Feeling he deserved the ambassadorship to France for handing out the flyers, Guiteau went to the White House to ask the President personally. Garfield essentially laughed him out of the White House. Feeling insulted, Guiteau determined he should stalk and kill Garfield. This was with the hope that the Chester Arthur, the Vice President, would be so happy to become President, that he reward him with the job. Obviously, it didn’t work out as planned (Garfield Assassination Story: To be done here or at the NGA-West Building) On July 2nd, 1881, Garfield was walking into the Baltimore and Pacific Railroad station (which used to be right over there, near what is today, the National Gallery of Art), when Guiteau realized his opportunity. Guiteau stands up and approaches Garifield. He shoots the President twice in the chest. Garfield miraculously survives though. He is brought back to the White House to recover as doctors plan to pull the bullets out of chest. This is when the problems really start as these doctors were not the best. They were unsuccessful finding the bullet and in the process caused terrible infections. They even brought in Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, to help. He invented a primitive metal detector to be used in the task. However, the metal detector kept going off and nobody could figure out why. Soon, Garfield succumbed to the infection in early September, 79 days after he was shot. It was when they lifted him off the bed that they realized why the metal detector was going off: he was sleeping on a metal spring mattress! Doctors later revealed that they probably could have left the bullets inside him and he would have survived his term (maybe even two terms). Grant Statue Here we stand near the foot of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. Grant was both a famous general for the United States during the Civil War as well as President of the U.S. following the war. Both during and after the civil war his favorite horse was named “Jeff Davis” after the president of the confederate states. He was also known as quiet the tobacco smoker, throughout his life. He first smoked a pipe but then randomly switched to cigars. So, people found out about his love for cigars and sent them by the tons to the general. He would occasionally pass them out to enlisted men under his command to keep morale up. For the most part, though, he smoked them himself: up to twenty or more a day! It came as no surprise that his cause of death was lung cancer. He was even asked by Mark Twain to write his biography. Twain, upon reading many of his war letters was impressed by Grant’s writing style. After he left office, Grant had squandered much of his life savings in poor investments. Desperate to provide for his families’ well being, Grant accepted Twains offer. Grant actually got $200,000 in the first royalty check, sadly receiving the check just days after his death. The book, eventually earned Grant’s family over a half million dollars (a fortune in the late 19th century)! His monument's statue faces west toward the Lincoln Memorial honoring Grant's wartime president, Abraham Lincoln. The Grant Memorial includes the second largest equestrian statue in the United States and the third largest in the world (after the statue of Mexican conquistador Don Juan de Onate, in El Paso, Texas, and the monument to Italy's King Victor Emanuel in Rome). The Grant Memorial, begun in 1902 as the largest ever commissioned by Congress at the time, was created by sculptor Henry Shrady and architect William Casey. Shrady spent 20 years of his life working on the memorial and died, stressed and overworked, two weeks before its dedication in 1922. The platform for the monument, made of Vermont marble, is 252 feet long and 71 feet wide and is divided into three sections. The tall, middle section features a 10,700 pound, 17-foot-2-inch high equestrian statue depicting Grant aboard his war horse Cincinnati on a 22 1/2-foot high marble pedestal. Grant is flanked, on either side, by fighting Union Artillery and Cavalry groups. Surrounding the main pedestal are four shorter pedestals, each supporting a bronze lion in repose guarding both the United States flag and the flags of the Army. The memorial was the largest bronze sculpture cast in the United States at that time. National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is the newest museum added to the National Mall in September 2004. The museum covers Native Americans from North, Central, and South America. The building is designed to look like sandstone cliffs of the southwest desert and also has no corners to keep consistent with the culture. Some American Indian tribes believed that spirits hide in corners, which helps explain their wide use of tee pees. As we pass, be sure to look for the garden, which features traditional crops like corn and beans. National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum is the most popular Smithsonian. The museum houses the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Charles Lindbergh used to fly across the Atlantic in May 1927. The Wright Flyer, the first successful airplane ever developed is also on display. Newer and bigger airplanes like the Concorde and the Space Shuttle on display at the new annex near Dulles airport. The American History Museum is closed for renovation until the fall, so the Smithsonian has moved a few exhibits over here. You can see Kermit the Frog, Dorothy’s slippers, President Lincoln’s top hat, Lewis and Clark’s compass, Thomas Jefferson’s bible, and Edison’s light bulb. Hirshhorn Museum The museum houses international modern and contemporary art. It’s been nick-named the donut because of its shape! This is the original site of the Army Medical Museum. The museum was known for having preserved flesh and bones, shocking tourists. When the museum was torn down in 1968 to make way for the Hirshhorn, the collections were moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. The National Mall The National Mall is the centerpiece of Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s original design for the Federal City. He hoped to have large grassy areas for people to enjoy with a central location for federal buildings. The Smithsonian was created in 1846 and drastically expanded the National Mall. A British scientist named James Smithson founded the Smithsonian with a $508,000 donation --- after his death. Smithson had never been to the US and the motive for his gift is to this day unknown. Smithson was originally buried in Genoa, Italy, but was moved to the US in 1904. He now rests in a tomb in the Smithsonian Institution Castle – his sarcophagus displays that he was 75 when he died, when in reality he was only 64. Smithson wrote his will three years before he died, giving his estate to his nephew, Henry James Hungerford. The will stated that if his nephew died without an heir the money would go to the US to found the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it. They have the Hope Diamond, which is 45 ½ carats. You can find a 5 ton African elephant in the main rotunda, the Hall of Mammals, the Insect Zoo, which is ironically sponsored by Orkin (the Bug Killers). The newest exhibit is Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution. Finally, there is an IMAX theatre, which shows a variety of films every day that relate to the current exhibits. Federal Triangle Federal Triangle was built between 1928 and 1938 and extends from 6th Avenue to 15th Street on Pennsylvania Avenue. It is the largest combination of federal buildings planned as a unit the government has ever attempted. The triangle fills about 74 acres of triangular ground between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues. The Department of Justice, the IRS, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Commerce are all part of the triangle, all of which we’ll be riding by in the next few minutes. Directory: download download -> Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 May 20, 2009 Abstract download -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations download -> Bbc archives: Beyond the programme download download -> Occupational health and safety download -> Dynatest 3031 lwd light Weight Deflectometer download -> Forth coming competitive exams download -> English Olympiad Tasks: 10 th form Аудіювання, 10 клас. Текст download -> Brush High School Morning Announcements Friday, September 05, 2014 all school download -> Year 9 The Arts — Music download -> Years 7 and 8 standard elaborations — Australian Curriculum: Music draft Download 118.09 Kb. Share with your friends:
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