Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

Ford House Office Building The Ford House Office Building is one of the five office buildings containing U.S. House of Representatives staff in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill. The Ford House Office Building is the only House Office Building that is not connected under ...

Longworth House Office Building The Longworth House Office Building (LHOB) is one of five office buildings used by the United States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S.E., and Sou ...

O'Neill House Office Building The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in Washington, D.C., that houses offices of both the House of Representatives and the Department of Health and Human Services. It is named after former United States Congressman from Massa ...

Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after forme ...

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Hart Senate Office Building The Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building is the third U.S. Senate office building, and is located on 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue NE and C Street NE in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Construction began in January 1975, an ...

Russell Senate Office Building The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russell ...

United States Courts The courts of the United States are closely linked hierarchical systems of courts at the federal and state levels. The federal courts form the judicial branch of the US government and operate under the authority of the United States Constitution an ...

Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building (TMFJB) houses offices that support the work of the United States Courts, including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencin ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Thomas Jefferson Building The Thomas Jefferson Building is the oldest of the four United States Library of Congress buildings. Built between 1890 and 1897, it was originally known as the Library of Congress Building. It is now named for the 3rd U.S. president Thomas Jeffe ...

Upper Senate Park Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

Lower Senate Park Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

Spirit of Justice Park Spirit of Justice Park is a park in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Bounded by C Street to the north, D Street to the south, Delaware Ave SW to the west and New Jersey Ave SE to the east, the park is located south of the United States Capi ...

Bartholdi Park Bartholdi Park is a public park named after French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who is known primarily for designing the Statue of Liberty. It is located at the corner of Independence Avenue and Washington Avenue. Bartholdi Park is part ...

Capitol Visitor Center The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is a large underground addition to the United States Capitol complex which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the US Congress.The Capitol Grounds In addition to the buildings listed above, several

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

s,

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s, and other works of art are located in and around the Capitol Complex. These include the

National Statuary Hall Collection The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old ...

and the ''

Statue of Freedom The ''Statue of Freedom'', also known as ''Armed Freedom'' or simply ''Freedom'', is a bronze statue designed by Thomas Crawford (1814–1857) that, since 1863, has crowned the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Originally ...

'' among many others. The westernmost part of the grounds is the Capitol Reflecting Pool, which reflects the Capitol and the

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is a Presidential memorials in the United States, presidential memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring American Civil War General (United States), general and 18th President of the United States, United States Presid ...

. With the exception of the Ford and O'Neill House Office Buildings, all House and Senate office buildings within the Capitol Complex are linked to the Capitol via an underground network of

people movers A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

or footpath tunnels.

History

Construction of the Capitol began in 1792. When built, it was the only existing building for the use by the nation's

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

. In addition to Congress, the building was also designed to house the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the district courts, and other offices. Following the completion of the building and as the nation grew, so did the size of the Congress. The Capitol and its grounds were enlarged accordingly, and by 1892 the building had reached essentially its present size and appearance (with the exception of the east front extension 1958–1962 and courtyard infill areas 1991–1993). Even with the enlargements, Congress eventually grew too big for the building and new facilities had to be constructed to meet the needs of the government. With the moving of the Library of Congress into its own building in 1897, and with the construction of new office buildings for the House and Senate in the early 20th century, the Capitol Complex was born. Known simply as the "House Office Building" and "Senate Office Building" when they opened in 1908 and 1909, the Cannon House Office Building and

Russell Senate Office Building The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russell ...

became the first buildings solely for use as offices by the House of Representatives and the Senate. These new buildings were heated and provided with electricity by the new Capitol Power Plant which opened in 1910 and is still used today. The 1930s was a decade of major construction within the growing Capitol Complex. In 1933 alone the U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory, Director's residence, and

Bartholdi Park Bartholdi Park is a public park named after French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who is known primarily for designing the Statue of Liberty. It is located at the corner of Independence Avenue and Washington Avenue. Bartholdi Park is part ...

were completed; the Senate Office Building's First Street wing, which had been omitted during construction for funding reasons, was added; and the Additional House Office Building (later named the

Longworth House Office Building The Longworth House Office Building (LHOB) is one of five office buildings used by the United States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S.E., and Sou ...

) was occupied. The Supreme Court at last found a permanent home when its own building was completed in 1935. The last building constructed within the complex in this decade was the Library of Congress Annex, now named the John Adams Building, which opened in 1939. Within twenty years, attention returned to the need for more Congressional office space; this led to the construction of a second building for the Senate (now named the Dirksen Senate Office Building), which was completed in 1958. The House's third building, the

Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after forme ...

, opened in 1965.

In the 1970s, two more buildings became available for the House: the former Congressional Hotel, the

O'Neill House Office Building The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in Washington, D.C., that houses offices of both the House of Representatives and the Department of Health and Human Services. It is named after former United States Congressman from Massa ...

(demolished in 2002), and a larger building originally constructed for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(now the

Ford House Office Building The Ford House Office Building is one of the five office buildings containing U.S. House of Representatives staff in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill. The Ford House Office Building is the only House Office Building that is not connected under ...

). A third building for the Library of Congress, the James Madison Memorial Building, opened in 1980 and the Senate's third building, the

Hart Senate Office Building The Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building is the third U.S. Senate office building, and is located on 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue NE and C Street NE in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Construction began in January 1975, an ...

, was occupied in 1982. The most recent large structure within the Capitol complex is the

Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building (TMFJB) houses offices that support the work of the United States Courts, including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencin ...

, which was opened in 1992. Renovations to the Botanic Garden Conservatory began in September 1997 and continued for four years until December 2001 when the building reopened. The Conservatory's aluminum framework, glazing, interior floors, doors, and lighting were replaced; all electrical, plumbing, and environmental control systems were upgraded, and air conditioning was added to the display halls. The newest addition to the Capitol Complex is the

Capitol Visitor Center The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is a large underground addition to the United States Capitol complex which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the US Congress.stormed by supporters of President Trump after a rally in front of

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. A Capitol Police Officer was wounded and was pronounced dead a day later at a nearby hospital. Additionally, one of the protesters was shot and later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. A further three deaths from medical emergencies were reported while over a hundred injuries were reported by Capitol Police.

References

Some text from this article came from the public domain webpages of the Architect of the Capitol:
A Brief History of the U.S. Capitol Complex

The Capitol Visitor Center

External links

Architect's Virtual Capitol
{{coord, 38, 53, 27, N, 77, 00, 26, W, region:US-DC_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Capitol Complex Complex Capitol Hill

Buildings and grounds

History

See also

References

External links