On this day in 1793...

George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in Washington DC. It was far from complete by the time that Congress moved in 1800. There are some excellent guides to the history and architecture of the Capitol - my favourite (which I keep by my bedside for a little late night or early morning reading) is William C Allen's "History of the United States Capitol: A chronicle of design, construction, and politics"



It is available in the gift shop in the Capitol Visitors Center, Washington DC - but I wouldn't recommend flying with it (unless you want to use up quite a bit of your baggage allowance!).

Online there is some excellent material on the website of the Architect of the Capitol - available here.

The Building of Washington DC

In one of the videos from my walk whilst in the USA, I show the point at which the surveying to establish the  District of Columbia began (to see the video of Jones Point press here)

The timeline for the establishment of the City and the Capitol Building is -

July 16th 1790 - Congress, meeting in New York, passes the Residence Act - which moves the seat of government to Philadelphia for 10 years, and then to a new site (a square of 10 miles on each side) on the Potomac - the exact area to be established by the President.

Washington selected an area which included the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria - but the new city was on the Maryland side to the south and east of Georgetown. L'Enfant prepared a map showing the outline of the new city and its major streets and buildings in 1791.

1791 First public sale of lots within the Federal District

1792 Competitions were announced for the design of an Executive Mansion (now the White House) and a building for the Congress. The Executive Mansion was sorted out with ease, but none of the plans for the Congress Hall satisfied the Commissioners. William Thornton requested and was given permission to submit a late entry. This design was chosen. However his only professional competitor - Stephen Hallet - was, in compensation for the work he had done on his own entry, given a key role in building - and he abused his position to alter and undermine Thornton's plan. He was eventually discharged.

Sept 18th 1793 - the Cornerstone of the Capitol was laid

late May 1800 - The government left Philadelphia - to set up in Washington

Nov 17th 1800 - The North (Senate) Wing of the Capitol was ready - but the House Building was barely more than foundations. So both Houses met in the Senate Building. A temporary House of representatives building was available by December 1801.

1811 - the House Building was completed - but the middle building remained unbuilt - so the two Houses were joined by a temporary passageway.

Aug 24th 1814 - the British burned the Capitol Building!

The Capitol Building itself

This is a guide to the parts of the Capitol Building. The sound of a train can be heard - Union Station is very close!

Follow the links to the websites for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

A closer look at the Capitol

For further information about the Capitol and the US Capitol Visitors Center follow this link.

The view from the Library of Congress

I filmed this at about 1pm Washington time (6pm UK time)yesterday. The morning was spent catching up on the news [It is so good to be able to read the physical editions of The Hill, Politico & the Washington Post - I'm grateful for the ability to read them online from 3600 miles away - but it's nicer to read - and mark - the hard copies. I also rang & then emailed a number of Members' offices - to set up interviews in the coming days.

Having made my way to "the Hill" I popped into the Library of Congress Book/Gift shop - before making this video. Then I crossed to the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading room, which like the Congressional Research Service, is based in the Madison Building. I spent some wonderful hours reading the Washington Post from November 1974.

I made my way to Politics and Prose - where I picked up a signed copy of President Carter's Diaries. I have quite a bit of reading to do - and I'll be blogging about some of that soon.

Capitol in danger (and not from the British!)

Politico reports

"Key parts of the antiquated U.S. Capitol campus are literally crumbling, desperately in need of more than $200 million in repairs.

Water is leaking through pin holes in the Statue of Freedom. Lead-based paint chips are flaking off the Rotunda walls and collecting on the tour route to the Capitol dome, putting visitors at risk. Last summer, a U.S. Capitol Police officer was injured when he was struck by a falling ceiling tile in the Cannon House Office Building. And in the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building, parts of the parking deck require a full concrete-slab replacement — and without it, vehicles could be damaged, according to previously unreleased committee testimony. ......

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39256.html#ixzz0sQX22otr