Work on the building began in in September with a parade. Along the route, they were joined by Freemasons from Maryland and Virginia. An engraved dedication plaque was placed at the southeast corner of the foundation, and George Washington ceremonially lowered the cornerstone onto it. Four Masons then consecrated the stone. To oversee construction, the commission hired and fired three different architects in quick succession: Stephen H. Hallet, George Hadfield, and James Hoban.
The first section to be completed was the North Wing in For a time, it not only housed the Senate but the House of Representatives as well, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and even the District of Columbia courts. A new architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, took over in He completed the South Wing and made some renovations to the North Wing, but funding was cut off in preparation for the War of , and Latrobe left the project without starting work on the central building.
And then, in August , the British burned the city and the Capitol Building to the ground. Latrobe returned after the war to repair the damage. In , Charles Bulfinch came in to complete the building, and the work was finally finished in One more expansion was made in the s, necessitated by the growth of the nation.
With expansion across the North American continent, there were more states and more territories that would become states. The number of senators and representatives was growing. Thus, new, larger, House and Senate Chambers were added. This expansion doubled the size of the building. Suddenly, the small copper dome that Bulfinch had placed on top of the central building looked rather small.
A few additions, modifications, and upgrades have been made since , but at this point the building as we know it was essentially complete. Learn more about the unique history of Washington, D. It is 96 feet in diameter and feet high. It is and always has been a ceremonial space. Capitol Visitor Center scheduled to be completed late The entire facility is located underground on the east front of the Capitol so as not to detract from the appearance of the Capitol.
North Carolina has two state statues on display in the U. Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. One of Governor Vance located in Statuary Hall and the other of Governor Aycock located in the Senate main corridor on the first floor.
A prodigious writer, Vance became one of the most influential southern leaders of the Civil War and postbellum periods. In order to improve his standing, Vance determined to go to law school at the university of North Carolina.
By Vance had begun practicing law in Asheville, and was soon elected county solicitor prosecuting attorney. At the age of twenty-four, Vance ran for a seat in the State House of Commons as a Whig, beating a man twice his age.
He was defeated for State Senate and for Congress in But he went on to win election to the United States House of Representatives, first by a special election in caused by the resignation of Thomas L. Clingman to become a Senator. At the age of twenty-eight, Vance now a member of the American Party was the youngest member of Congress. While in Congress, Vance was a staunch supporter of both the Union and states' rights. In March , however, when indications were that the North Carolina legislature was going to vote for secession, he resigned his seat and returned home.
In September , Vance won the gubernatorial election. In the Confederacy Vance was a major proponent of individual rights and local self-government, often putting him at odds with the Confederate government of Jefferson Davis.
For example, North Carolina was the only state to observe the writ of habeas corpus and keep its courts fully functional during the war. Also, Vance refused to allow supplies smuggled into North Carolina by blockade runners to be given to other states until North Carolinians had their share.
Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate. The competition for its design was won by Dr. William Thornton, a gifted amateur architect who had studied medicine but rarely practiced as a doctor.
Thornton placed a central shallow domed rotunda between the Senate north and House south wings. The construction preceded slowly under a succession of architects, including Stephen Hallet , George Hadfield and James Hoban , architect of the White House, who completed the Senate wing in Benjamin Henry Latrobe was hired in ; by he had renovated the Senate wing and completed the House wing.
In , British troops set fire to the Capitol as well as the White House and other District buildings during the War of Charles Bulfinch, the brilliant Boston architect who succeeded Latrobe in , completed the building in with only slight modifications of Latrobe's interior plan.
Although the Capitol was considered completed in , by the need to enlarge the building became evident following the enormous territorial growth of the nation. The number of states in the union had more than doubled since , and as the nation grew so did its Congress.
Instead of thirty senators there were now sixty-two, and the House had grown from 69 representatives to With a rapidly expanding Congress it was obvious that the building was too small.
Construction of the Capitol Extension and Dome, c. In , 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 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 the Library of Congress moved out of the Capitol into its own building, making space for new committee rooms. In Congress again debated the construction project. As war progressed, so did the dome, section by section.
Skilled and unskilled laborers — many of whom began the project as slaves, then continued as freedmen following the DC Emancipation Act — operated machinery under dangerous conditions. Accidents and injuries were common.
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