United States Capitol and Campus

Abstract

The United States Capitol, located in Washington, DC, houses the US Congress. Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government whose job is to pass laws and serve as the voice of the people and states within the national government. The history of the Capitol building is richly complex, straddling construction, destruction, reconstruction, expansion, preservation, and security. The Capitol consists of meeting chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, linked by a central domed Great Rotunda. Commissioned in 1792 through the nation’s first architectural competition, construction began in 1793 and was not completed until 1866. Its design has undergone a series of transformations spearheaded by European and American designers, including William Thornton, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch, and Thomas Ustick Walter, with important contributions from Stephen Hallet, George Hadfield, James Hoban, Robert Mills, and Montgomery C. Meigs. These changes were prompted by its destruction in 1814 as a result of the British occupation of Washington, DC, and by growth in the country’s size and population, which saw Senate and House of Representative members quadruple in number along with increases in staffing and congressional committee needs requiring additional office and meeting space. The Capitol is situated on a prominent hilltop site in Washington, DC, originally in direct view with the White House, which is the symbolic home of the federal government’s executive branch. Since 1897 monumental civic buildings, including the Library of Congress and Supreme Court (originally housed within the Capitol) as well as a series of office buildings for congressional members and staff linked by underground tunnels, surround the structure. Today the Capitol campus comprises over 570 acres and includes landscaped grounds, the United States Botanic Garden, office buildings, a residence hall for Capitol pages, parking garages, and a power plant. Enshrined within American popular imagination as the “People’s House” or “Temple of Liberty,” the Capitol remains a powerful symbol of unity and national governance. The building and its interiors embody democratic ideals and challenges inherent in American culture, including its construction by enslaved African Americans and the enshrinement of problematic “heroes” through its sculpture and artwork. Recent events in January 2021 have focused renewed attention on the fragility of the Capitol as a symbol of national consensus. Despite its air of timelessness, changes continue to be made to the building and, much like America, the Capitol remains a work in progress.