U.S. Capitol Building - Washington, D.C. - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

L’Enfant choose the location of Jenkin’s Hill, which he described as a “pedestal awaiting a monument,” as the location for the U.S. Capitol Building. Afer choosing the location, L’Enfant was supposed to design the building, but the Commissioners insisted that L’Enfant show them his plans for the building. L’Enfant claimed the plans were “in my head.” He continued to ignore the Commissioners and was eventually forced to resign in 1792, without having designed the Capitol Building.

Congress then held a competition for the design of the Capitol Building, with the winner promised $500 and a city lot. At the close of the competition, none of the submitted plans were acceptable to Congress. A few months after the competition, a Scot living in the British West Indies, Dr. William Thornton, petitioned Congress for permission to submit a design. Congress granted him permission, and his design is the one that both President Washington and the congress agreed upon. Dr. Thornton traveled to Washington, D.C. and became the capitol’s first architect.

The cornerstone of the Capitol was laid on September 18, 1793 with Masonic ceremonies (most of the founding fathers were Masons). Sandstone from Aquia Creek in Virginia was used as a base for the building. Dr. Thornton oversaw the building of the north wing of the capitol, with the Senate occupying its chamber in 1800. The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the courts of the District of Columbia continued to meet in temporary buildings erected around the north wing.

By 1804, Benjamin Latrobe took over the architectural duties of Dr. Thornton. He replaced the temporary home of the House of Representatives with the south wing in 1811. Latrobe then turned his attention to remodeling the north wing of the building, which was already beginning to crumble. He rebuilt the Senate chamber and added a chamber for the Supreme Court. Congress stopped paying Latrobe and he resigned, leaving the south and north wings connected by a temporary wooden passageway holding the Library of Congress.

Boston architect Charles Bulfinch was appointed as the Capitol architect succeeding Latrobe. Bulfinch finished Latrobe’s work, readying the Senate, House and Supreme Court chambers in the north and south wings of the building for occupancy in 1819. Bulfinch then oversaw construction of the central section of the building, the original rotunda and copper-covered wooden dome.

The new House chamber was occupied in 1857, the same year Thomas Crawford died; a year later the mold for his statue arrived in Washington from Italy. The Senate moved into its new chamber in 1859. The old Senate chamber became the new Supreme Court chamber while the former House chamber became Statuary Hall.

After being cast at Clark’s Mill on the outskirts of the District, Crawford’s statue was three feet higher than Walter had anticipated. Walter was forced to lower the height of the dome by 13 feet to accommodate an expanded pedestal capable of holding the 15,000 pound, 19'6" artwork.

Work on the new dome came abruptly to a halt in 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War. At various times during the Civil War, the Capitol was used as military barracks, a hospital and a bakery. Work on the dome resumed in 1862. The cast iron for the dome was lifted into place by steam-powered derricks, using wood from the old dome as fuel.

The Library of Congress vacated the Capitol in 1901; the Supreme Court finally moved into a building of its own in 1935. The last addition to the building was in 1950. Architect J. George Stewart extended the Capitol’s east central facade to provide additional space for Congress.