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Where is the west front of the Capitol?

West Front Lawn This area creates a formal setting for the Capitol's West Front, the side of the building that faces the National Mall. Beginning with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981, presidential inaugurations have been held on the marble terrace designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.



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The Capitol's East Front was planned, and still serves, as its principal entrance (being the only front on level ground), and the statue faces those who arrive from this direction.

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It is located at the far eastern end of the National Mall beyond the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The Capitol Visitor Center, the main entrance to the U.S. Capitol, is located beneath the East Front plaza of the U.S. Capitol at First Street and East Capitol Street.

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The bronze Statue of Freedom, facing east over the central entrance, crowns the dome of the United States Capitol. The Statue of Freedom was sculpted in Rome by the American artist Thomas Crawford. Upon learning of the statue's final height, architect Thomas U.

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Rather than ascend to 600 feet as Mills had intended in the original plan, Casey was persuaded to make the height of the structure ten times the width of the base, meaning the optimal height for the Washington Monument was 555 feet.

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The grounds immediately surrounding the U.S. Capitol are bordered by a stone wall and cover an area of 58.8 acres. Its boundaries are Independence Avenue on the south, Constitution Avenue on the north, First Street NE/SE on the east, and First Street NW/SW on the west.

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To the east, the U.S. Capitol, R.F.K. Stadium, the Anacostia River, Nationals Park, and the National Arboretum; to the north, the White House, National Cathedral, and Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; to the west, the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The commissioners, in turn, hired the French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant to plan the new city of Washington. He located the Capitol at the elevated east end of the Mall, on the brow of what was then called Jenkins' Hill. The site was, in L'Enfant's words, a pedestal waiting for a monument.

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At two and one-half times life size, the figure of Grant mounted on his horse forms the monument's apex atop a pedestal that is over twenty-two feet high.

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