Among the public buildings at Washington, the capital city of the
nation, the first in architectural merit, and in point of interest, is
the Capitol, which contains the halls of the national legislature, the
supreme court room, &c., &c. This building (a view of which, as it will
appear when the enlargement now in progress is completed, is given in
the cut below) is situated on an eminence at the eastern part of the
city, about seventy feet above tidewater, its main front looking toward
the west. As it was before the commencement of the alterations and
improvements now in progress, it consisted of a center building, with
two wings, having a total length of three hundred and fifty-two feet,
and a depth at the wings of one hundred and twenty-one feet. The central
building contains a rotunda, ninety-six feet in diameter, and the same
in hight, crowned by a magnificent dome which rises one hundred and
forty-five feet from the ground. The wings, as they were, were each
surmounted by a flat dome. The eastern front, which was intended for the
main one, projects, including the steps, sixty-five feet, and is graced
by a portico of twenty-two Corinthian columns, thirty feet in hight,
forming a colonnade one hundred and sixty feet in length, presenting one
of the most commanding fronts in the United States. The western front
projects eighty-three feet, including the steps, and is embellished with
a recessed portico of ten columns. This front, though not so imposing,
in itself, as the eastern, commands the finest view anywhere to be had
in Washington, overlooking all the central and western parts of the
city, and all the principal public buildings. On the steps of the east
front is a noble statue of Columbus, supporting a globe in his
outstretched arm. In the interior of the western projection is the
library of Congress, a part of which was burned in the winter of 1851-2.
Before that event it contained over fifty thousand volumes. It has been
rebuilt so as to be fire-proof.
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.]
On entering the rotunda, the first objects that strike the attention,
are the paintings which adorn the walls. There are “The Declaration of
Independence,” “The Surrender of Burgoyne,” “The Surrender of
Cornwallis,” “Washington resigning his Commission,” “The Embarkation of
the Pilgrims at Leyden,” “The Landing of Columbus,” “The Baptism of
Pocohontas,” and “The Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto.”
Surrounding the rotunda, are a number of chambers, passages,
committee-rooms, rooms for the president, members of the cabinet, &c.
The senate-chamber is on the second floor of the north wing, of which it
occupies about half, and is of a semicircular form, being seventy-five
feet long, and forty-five high. A gallery for spectators, supported by
iron or bronze pillars, surrounds the semicircle, and fronts the chair
of the presiding officer, which stands in the middle of the chord of the
semicircle. In the rear of the chair, and above it, is a gallery,
supported by Ionic columns of the conglomerate or Potomac marble, in
which sit the reporters, fronting the senators. The hall of
representatives is on the second floor of the south wing, and is also
semicircular, but much larger than the senate-chamber, being ninety-six
feet long, and sixty high, and surrounded by twenty-four Corinthian
columns of Potomac marble, with capitals of Italian marble. The
galleries are similar in their arrangement to those of the
senate-chamber. Over the chair of the speaker is a statue of Liberty,
supported by an eagle with spread wings. In front of the chair, and
immediately above the main entrance, is a figure representing History
recording the events of the nation.
The enlargement of the Capitol, commenced in 1851, and now in progress,
will, however, materially change and improve its appearance. It will
comprehend two wings, two hundred and thirty-eight by one hundred and
forty feet, which are to be surrounded on three sides by colonnades, and
on the fourth side to communicate by corridors, forty-four feet long and
fifty feet wide, with the main building. The whole will be seven hundred
and fifty-one feet long, and will cover three and one-half acres, or
more than one hundred and fifty-three thousand square feet. The
architect of the new building has completed the design of a magnificent
new dome for the center of the enlarged building, which is said to be a
splendid conception of genius, and which is to take the place of the
present dome, and thus perfect the symmetry and architectural beauty of
the entire building when complete. It will be constructed entirely of
cast iron, and will be on the foundation of the old dome. And if it at
all meets the expectations formed of it, it will be a lasting monument
of the skill and genius of the architect.
The whole cost of the building as it now stands, before the extension,
was some two million dollars; but the improvement will cost several
millions more. The original structure was commenced in 1793, and had not
been completed when it was burned, by an act of vandalism, in 1814; and
was not entirely finished till 1828. The grounds around the Capitol,
embracing some thirty acres, and forming an oblong on three sides, and a
semicircle on the west, are handsomely laid out, and planted with trees
and shrubbery, presenting, during the spring and summer, a scene of
great beauty. About the center of the grounds, on the eastern front, is
a colossal statue of Washington, by Greenough. The material of the
Capitol is a porous stone of a light yellow color, painted white. The
enlargement is to be of marble.