A multi-phased project designed to address deferred maintenance, extend the life expectancy of the deteriorated stone and to replace missing elements of the U.S. Capitol Building.
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Why is part of the Capitol Building covered in scaffolding? The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is preserving the building's exterior stone and metals. The project will prevent water infiltration, slow deterioration of the stone and corrosion of the metals, repair damage and remove soil and stains.
A multi-phased project designed to address deferred maintenance, extend the life expectancy of the deteriorated stone and to replace missing elements of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Due to construction delays to the Capitol created by shortages of funding and material, and the British burning the Capitol in 1814, the Capitol Rotunda construction did not begin until 1818.
The United States Capitol crypt is the large circular room filled with forty neoclassical Doric columns directly beneath the United States Capitol rotunda. It was built originally to support the rotunda as well as offer an entrance to Washington's Tomb.
The rest of this floor is occupied by offices, committee rooms, and press galleries. The fourth floor and the basement/terrace level of the Capitol are occupied by offices, machinery rooms, workshops, and other support areas.
The Capitol BuildingThe building is pink in color because of the Sunset Red granite used to build it. In 1990, the Capitol went through an extensive restoration and preservation project.
High in the sky, about 50 feet above the roof, a crane is peeking out of the Cannon House Office Building. This tower crane is part of the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) 10-year renewal project to improve and preserve the Cannon Building, which has not received a comprehensive systems upgrade since the 1930s.
The construction of the U.S. Capitol Building began in 1793, and for over a century it was the only building created for the use of the nation's legislature. In fact, the Capitol initially housed not only the Congress but also the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the district courts and other offices.
It is commonly referred to as Capitol Hill and houses all U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate office buildings, the Library of Congress, and the symbol of democracy, the U.S. Capitol.
In the center under the dome is the rotunda, a circular ceremonial space that also serves as a gallery of paintings and sculpture depicting significant people and events in the Nation's history. The rotunda is 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet 3 inches to the canopy.