Description • Architect: Thomas Walter, Charles Bulfinch, William Thornton
• Current Architect of the Captiol: George M. White, FAIA (1971-present)
• Length x Width: 751'-4" feet x 350'-0" feet
• The height listed for the building is taken from the higher elevated east front. The west front facing the mall is lower in elevation.
• The building was constructed over multiple phase:
a. 1793-1800 - Old Senate/North wing constructed.
b. 1793-1807 - Old House/South wing constructed
c. 1818-1824 - Center and rotunda constructed
d. 1818-1824 - Present Senate & House chambers completed.
e. 1855-1866 - Current dome constructed.
f. 1884-1892 - Terraces constructed.
g. 1958-1962 - Front/East terrace extended.
h. 1991-1993 - West courtyard formed.
• The building was originally supposed to be 300 feet in height (including state), but when the sculptor made his statue, he made it larger than the architect had originally wanted (16.5 feet to 19.5 feet) meaning the base had to be made larger, meaning a shorter platform.
• William Thornton, an amateur architect, was the architect of the first captiol building. Thomas A. Walter was the architect of the capitol building as we see it, today.
• The building sits on Capitol Hill, which rises 88 feet (26.82 meters) above the Potomac River.
• The interior rotunda measures 92 feet (28.04 meters) in diameter, and measures 180 feet, 3 inches (54.94 meters) in from the floor to the canopy.
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