Honorary consultant in military history.-Brig. Gen. John McAuley Palmer (United States Army, retired). Honorary consultant in paleography.-Elias Avery Lowe (Oxford). Honorary consultant in Roman law.-Francesco Lardone. Project C.-Seymour de Ricci, compiler and editor. William Jerome Wilson, administrative assistant, Corcoran Courts, 401 Twentythird Street. Copyright Office: Register-William L. Brown, The Ontario. Assistant register.-Richard C. De Wolf, 2115 P Street. Library Building (custody and maintenance): Superintendent of building.-William C. Bond, 3519 Thirteenth Street. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TRUST FUND BOARD [Created by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1925, and as amended January 27, 1926, with the power "to accept, receive, hold, and administer such gifts or bequests of personal property for the benefit of, or in connection with, the Library, its collections, or its service, as may be approved by the board and by the Joint Committee on the Library."] Chairman.-Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, 2447 Kalorama Road. Secretary-Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, 2025 O Street. Senator Alben William Barkley, chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, 3102 Cleveland Avenue. John Barton Payne, Esq., 1601 I Street. Mrs. Eugene Meyer, 1624 Crescent Place. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE (Corner North Capitol and G Streets. Phone, DIstrict 6840) Public Printer.-Augustus E. Giegengack, Wardman Park Hotel. Assistant to the Public Printer.-Miss Jo Coffin, 705 Eighteenth Street. Chief clerk.-Henry H. Wright, 1250 E Street NE. Production manager.-Edward M. Nevils, 8512 Cedar Street, Silver Spring, Md. Assistant production manager.-George Ortleb, Bellevue Hotel. Night production manager.-Edward A. Huse, 1501 Monroe Street NE. Purchasing agent.-Ernest E. Emerson, University Park, Hyattsville, Md. BOTANIC GARDEN (West of the Capitol Grounds) Acting director.-David Lynn, Architect of the Capitol, 3700 Quebec Street. (Phones, office, NAtional 3120, Branch 125; home, CLeveland 5724.) Assistant director.-Wilmer J. Paget, 5828 Fourth Street. (Phones, office, NAtional 3120, Branch 268; home, GEorgia 4556.) Chief clerk.-Emily Koons Haydon, 2634 Garfield Street. THE CAPITOL This building is situated on a plateau 88 feet above the level of the Potomac River and covers an area of 153,112 square feet, or approximately 3% acres. Its length, from north to south, is 751 feet 4 inches; its width, including approaches, is 350 feet; and its location is described as being in latitude 38° 53′ 20.4" north and longitude 77° 00' 35.7'' west from Greenwich. Its height above the base line on the east front to the top of the Statue of Freedom is 287 feet 51⁄2 inches. The dome is built of iron, and the aggregate weight of material used in its construction is 8,909,200 pounds. The Statue of Freedom surmounting the dome is entirely of bronze and weighs 14,985 pounds. It was modeled by Thomas Crawford, father of Francis Marion Crawford, the novelist, in Rome, Italy, and the plaster model shipped to this country. It was cast in bronze at the shops of Clark Mills, on the Bladensburg Road, not far from the city of Washington. The cost of the bronze casting and the expenses in connection therewith were $20,796.82, and, as the sculptor Crawford was paid $3,000 for the plaster model, the entire cost of the statue was $23,796.82. It was erected and placed in its present position December 2, 1863. The grounds have an area of 58.8 acres, at one time a part of Cern Abby Manor, and at an early date was occupied by a subtribe of the Algonquin Indians known as the Powhatans, whose council house was then located at the foot of the hill. SELECTION OF A SITE FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL It may seem strange that, in the selection of the 10 miles square for the territory in which the National Capital should find a home, a locality was selected with but a meager population. It may have been the intent to found a capital which should develop its own particular surroundings instead of attempting to conform with conditions then existing. But the principal reason was the lesson learned from European experiences, where the location of the country's capital in a large city offered an opportunity for the coercion of legislators by the citizens of the capital. From the inception of the Continental Congress, either through necessity or voluntarily, it had moved from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York City. Philadelphia seems to have been the favorite location, and it was from this city that the Federal Congress, organized in New York City, took up its abode until its removal to Washington, in the year 1800. The original 10 miles square was formed from territory donated by Virginia and Maryland, and the cornerstone was erected and fixed on April 15, 1791, at Hunters Point, just south of Alexandria, Va. This area remained intact until the year 1846, when the Congress transferred to Virginia the portion furnished by that State. PLANS FOR THE CAPITOL BUILDING Following the selection of a site for the Capital, some little time elapsed before advertisements appeared offering a prize of $500, or a medal of the same value, to be awarded for the "most approved plan" for a Capitol Building. Some 14 plans were submitted-some writers claim 16-but of these plans none was wholly satisfactory. In October 1792, Dr. William Thornton, a versatile physician of Tortola, West Indies, requested by letter an opportunity to present a plan as within the terms of the original advertisement. The request was granted and his plan accepted by the commissioners on April 5, 1793. Affairs seemed to move rapidly in those days, for on September 18, 1793, the cornerstone was laid with Masonic ceremonies in the southeast corner of the north section of the building, now designated as the Supreme Court section of the Capitol. Thornton's plan provided for a central section nearly square in area, surmounted by a low dome, this central section to be flanked on the north and south by rectangular buildings, with a length of 126 feet and a width of 120 feet. The northern wing was the first completed, and in this small building the legislative and judicial branches of the Government, as well as the courts of the District of Columbia, were accommodated at the time of the removal of the Government from Philadelphia in the year 1800. BUILDING OF THE OLD CAPITOL In the development of the accepted plans of Dr. William Thornton in the erection of the first unit of the building—the present Supreme Court sectionthree architects were employed-Stephen H. Hallett, George Hadfield, and James Hoban, the architect of the White House. The erection of the southern section of the Capitol, which is now occupied by Statuary Hall, was under the charge of B. H. Latrobe, and in 1811 the House of Representatives, which had previously met in the Supreme Court section of the Capitol and in a temporary brick building within the walls of the southern wing, commenced the occupancy of this new Legislative Chamber. A wooden passageway connected the two buildings. This condition existed when the interior of both buildings was burned by the British on August 24, 1814. The work of reconstruction of the damaged interiors was commenced by B. H. Latrobe, who continued the work of restoration until December, 1817, when he resigned, and Charles Bulfinch, a prominent architect of Boston, Mass., continued the work of restoration and the erection of the central portion of the building, commencing in 1818 and continuing until its completion in 1827. During the period of restoration and completion the Congress met, for its first session after the fire, in Blodget's Hotel at Seventh and E Streets, and soon thereafter in a building erected for that purpose on First Street NE., occupying a portion of the site recently selected for the United States Supreme Court Building. They continued this occupancy until 1819, when the Capitol was again ready for occupancy. The original Capitol as completed was built of Aquia Creek (Va.) sandstone, procured from quarries owned by the Government. This structure was 352 feet 4 inches in length and 229 feet in depth. The central portion was surmounted by a low dome, and the sandstone interior was unchanged when the new dome was erected in a later period. The cost of this original building, including the grading of the grounds, repairs, etc., up to the year 1827, was $2,433,844.13. Following the completion of the old Capitol in 1827, and the termination of the services of the architect, Charles Bulfinch, in 1830, such architectural services as were needed were performed by different architects until the year 1851, when the building of the present Senate and House wings was commenced, the plans of Thomas U. Walter having been selected in preference to others submitted On July 4, 1851, the corner stone of the extensions was laid in the northeast corner of the House wing. The oration was delivered by Daniel Webster, and his prophetic utterances on that occasion have been quoted many times. In the building of the Senate and House wings the exterior marble came from the quarries of Lee, Mass., and the columns from quarries of Cockeysville, Md. The addition of the Senate and House wings made the construction of a new dome necessary for the preservation of architectural symmetry. The greatest exterior diameter of the dome is 135 feet 5 inches. The rotunda is 97 feet in diameter, and its height from the floor to where the dome closes in at the base of the lantern is 180 feet 3 inches. The Capitol has a floor area of 14 acres, and 430 rooms are devoted to office, committee, and storage purposes. There are 14,518 square feet of skylights, 679 windows, and 550 doorways. The dome receives light through 108 windows, and from the architect's office to the dome there are 365 steps, one for each day of the year. In 1853, according to the report of Randolph Coyle, civil engineer, the Capito! Grounds contained approximately 29.32 acres. The present area is 58.8 acres. Contained in the grounds are 10.33 acres of cement sidewalks and 8.65 acres of asphalt driveways, and more than 800 trees and 3,500 shrubs surround the building. The grounds At this time the enlarging of the Capitol Grounds is in progress. will contain, with the area included in the office buildings for the use of the Senate and the House of Representatives, more than 120 acres. During the 35 years following the completion of the Capitol additional ground was acquired in order to obtain a better landscape surrounding in keeping with the enlarged Capitol. The terraces were built on the north, west, and south sides of the building. These changes resulted in an improved appearance of the building, which still remained in an incomplete condition, as the east front had not been extended as contemplated by the plans of Thomas U. Walter, under whose direction the Senate and House wings had been added and the new dome constructed. An increased membership of the Senate and House resulted in a demand for additional rooms for the accommodation of the Senators and Representatives, and on March 3, 1903, the Congress authorized the erection of a fireproof office building for the use of the House Members as office and committee rooms. The first brick was laid July 5, 1905, in square No. 690, and formal exercises were held at the laying of the corner stone on April 14, 1906, in which President Roosevelt participated. The building was completed and occupied January 10, 1908. A subsequent change in the basis of congressional representation made necessary the building of an additional story. The entire cost of the building, including site, amounted to $4,860,155.71. This office building contains 690 rooms, and was considered at the time of its completion fully equipped for all of the needs of a modern building for office purposes. The demand for a new building to be used for offices was greater for the Representatives, on account of the large number forming the membership of that body, and because the Members of the Senate were supplied with additional office space by the purchase of the Maltby Building, located on the northwest corner of B Street and New Jersey Avenue NW. However, the acquisition of this building supplied but a temporary purpose, and its condemnation as an unsafe structure created on the part of the Senators a desire for safer and more commodious quarters. Accordingly, square 686, on the northeast corner of Delaware Avenue and B Street NE., was purchased as a site for the Senate Office Building, and the plans for the House Office Building were adapted for the Senate Office Building, the only change being the omission of the additional story and the further omission of the fourth side of the building fronting on First Street NE., this being planned for but not completed. The corner stone of this building was laid without special exercises on July 31, 1906, and the building was completed and occupied March 5, 1909; it cost, including site and furnishings, $5,019,251.09. During the development of the plans for fireproof office buildings for occupancy by the Senators and Representatives, the question of heat, light, and power was considered. The Senate and House wings of the Capitol were heated by separate heating plants. The Library of Congress also had in use a heating plant for that building, and it was finally determined that the solution of the heating and lighting, with power for elevators, could be adequately met by the construction of a central power plant to furnish all heat and power, as well as light, for the Capitol group of buildings. Having determined the need of a central power plant, a site was selected in Garfield Park, bounded by New Jersey Avenue, South Capitol Street, Virginia Avenue, and B Street SE. This park being a Government reservation, an appropriation of money was not required to secure title. The determining factors leading to the selection of this site were its nearness to the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and its convenient distance to the river and the buildings to be cared for by the plant. The dimensions of the Capitol power plant are 244 feet 8 inches by 117 feet, with a height over the boiler room of 81 feet to accommodate the coal bunkers. A recent additional building, for accommodation of shops and storerooms, is located near the power plant and is built of selected red brick, it being 90 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 2 stories high. The building is located upon concrete foundations resting upon 790 simplex reinforced concrete piles; the superstructure is of red brick. There are custodis radial brick chimneys 212 feet in height and 11 feet in diameter at the top. The buildings served by the power plant are connected by a reinforced concrete steam tunnel 7 feet high by 4% feet wide, with walls approximately 12 inches thick. This tunnel originally ran from the power plant to the Senate Office Building, with connecting tunnels for the House Office Building, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress, and has since been extended to the Government Printing Office and the Washington City Post Office, with steam lines extended to serve the new House Office Building, the Supreme Court Building, the Annex to the Library of Congress, and the relocated Botanic Garden. Under legislation contained in authorization act of January 10, 1929, and in the urgent deficiency bill of March 4, 1929, provisions were made for a new House Office Building, to be located on the west side of New Jersey Avenue (opposite the first House Office Building). This building was completed and ready for beneficial occupancy April 20, 1933. It contains 251 2-room suites, 16 committee rooms; each suite and committee room being provided with a storeroom. Eight floors are occupied by Members; the basement and subbasement by shops and mechanics needed for the proper maintenance of the building. |