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US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Suspended above the vice president’s chair is a carved gilded eagle and shield, a symbol of the strength and unity of the young American republic. The piece was planned by Latrobe for the chamber. While the date of the actual installation is unknown, an 1829 guidebook describes the vice president’s chair as “canopied by crimson drapery, richly embossed and held by talons of an o’er hovering eagle.”
Eagle and Shield
•Eagle and Shield
•by Unidentified
•Wood, gilded, 1838 ca.
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 53.5 inches (135.9 cm)
oWidth: 72 inches (182.9 cm)
oDepth: 23 inches (58.4 cm)
•Unsigned
•Cat. no. 25.00003.000
It is difficult to document the origin of the Senate’s gilded wood Eagle and Shield, which currently adorns the dais in the Old Senate Chamber. An 1809 plan for the room shows that architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe intended to hang an eagle crest and elaborate canopy over the vice president’s desk. His drawing also includes an oval cartouche or escutcheon of unspecified design on the eagle’s breast. However, Latrobe’s bird, with drooping wings, lacks the majesty and drama of the soaring eagle that exists today in the Old Senate Chamber. It is unclear whether his design ever became reality—any evidence would have been destroyed when British troops burned the Capitol in 1814.
Further, records of the art in the Old Senate Chamber are notably scarce. The first reliable evidence of an eagle and shield located in this room appears in an 1838 article in the Daily National Intelligencer. It describes a “rich burnished shield, with an outer margin in the old French style, surmounted by an eagle of the size of life” hanging above the vice president’s dais in the room. [1] From this report it appears that the shield we know today existed from at least 1838, although the official records remain unclear on the matter. In 1846, Senate records indicate payment for “taking down curtains and drapery & irons for Eagle & shield.” The eagle and shield also appear in two mid-19th-century engravings: Thomas Doney’s United States Senate Chamber, published in 1846, and Robert Whitechurch’s The United States Senate, A.D. 1850, dated 1855. In addition, Senate records note that in 1847 a John Wagner was paid $10 for “carving & gilding 1 scroll for eagle,” although the Whitechurch engraving shows no such ribbon in the eagle’s beak.
After the Senate left the room and moved into its new Chamber in 1859, the Supreme Court of the United States used the space. Photographs from this period show that the shield was placed in the outer vestibule, over the door to the Chamber, while the eagle remained in the room. The ornate canopy that hung over the vice president’s desk was removed, and the eagle, now perched on a ribbon-draped horizontal bar, was affixed to the gallery balustrade above the chief justice’s desk. The Court occupied the room until 1935, when it moved to its new building across the street from the Capitol. For several more decades the Eagle and Shield remained in the same locations they occupied during the Court years—the eagle inside the room on the gallery balustrade, and the shield outside over the Chamber’s door. In 1976 the two pieces were reunited inside the room for the restoration of the Old Senate Chamber.
Numerous artistic renderings of eagles are found in the United States Capitol, but the Eagle and Shield in the Old Senate Chamber has become the enduring symbol of the Senate. In 1838 Daniel Webster immortalized the Senate’s eagle as an icon of American patriotism when delivering one of the impassioned speeches for which he was famous. From the floor of the Senate, with the gilded eagle gazing down on him from above the vice president’s dais, he proclaimed, “We have made these struggles here, in the national councils, with the old flag, the true American flag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the chamber in which we sit.” [2]
1.“The Capitol,” Daily National Intelligencer, 3 December 1838.
2.Congressional Globe (12 March 1838) 25th Cong., 2d sess.: 641.
More on Eagle and Shield
In 1782 Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States, which featured an American bald eagle with wings proudly spread. William Barton, one of the Great Seal’s designers, explained that, “The Eagle displayed is the Symbol of supreme Power & Authority, and signifies the Congress.” [1] It is not surprising that the eagle, which occupies such a prominent position on the seal, was meant to symbolize congressional strength. The Articles of Confederation, ratified the previous year, had established Congress as the only federal authority, assigning to it alone many of the powers that the Constitution of 1787 later divided among three separate branches of government.
Shortly after the seal’s adoption the eagle became a symbol, not just for Congress, but for the nation as a whole. The eagle soon began appearing on fabrics, coins, buttons, furniture, and ships’ figureheads. As successive events inflamed patriotic fervor—from the adoption of the Constitution, to George Washington’s inauguration, to the War of 1812—a profusion of eagles spread throughout the American decorative vocabulary.
The shield is no less important in American iconography. First appearing in 1782 as the escutcheon on the eagle’s breast in the Great Seal, the shield proved an apt metaphor for the recently united nation. The pales, or vertical stripes on the shield, symbolize the original 13 colonies standing as one. They support—and at the same time are joined by—the chief, or field at the top of the shield, which represents the unifying authority of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Like the eagle, the shield also is more broadly associated with patriotism and the strength of American democracy.
1.Richard Sharpe Patterson and Richardson Dougall, The Eagle and the Shield: A History of the Great Seal of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State, 1976. Department of State Publication 8900, Department and Foreign Service Series 161), 88.
He was hired in 1795 to design the US Capitol Building and he worked on it for the next 3 years before he and architect William Thornton had an argument and Hadfield dropped off the project. He was the architect for the West Wing. He would later be architect for the Treasury Department and the Arlington House in the Arlington Cemetery. He is buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
The painting Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull is on display in the Rotunda of the US Capitol. The subject of this painting is the surrender of the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, which ended the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War.
•Artist: John Trumbull
•Medium: Oil on Canvas
•Dimensions: 12' × 18'
•Date: 1820; Placed 1826
•Location: Rotunda, U.S. Capitol
The blue sky filled with dark clouds and the broken cannon suggest the battles that led to this event. In early September, entrenched with a force of 7,000 men, Cornwallis had hoped for rescue from the sea, but the British vessels were repelled by a French fleet. Within weeks General Washington had deployed a much larger army, and his artillery bombarded the British positions in early October. After American and French troops overran two British strongholds, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19.
In the center of the scene, American General Benjamin Lincoln appears mounted on a white horse. He extends his right hand toward the sword carried by the surrendering British officer, who heads the long line of troops that extends into the background. To the left, French officers appear standing and mounted beneath the white banner of the royal Bourbon family. On the right are American officers beneath the Stars and Stripes; among them are the Marquis de Lafayette and Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, the brother of the painter. General George Washington, riding a brown horse, stayed in the background because Lord Cornwallis himself was not present for the surrender.
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis in the Capitol Rotunda is one of two paintings that artist John Trumbull completed on this subject. He painted this version between 1819 and 1820, basing it upon a small painting (approximately 20 inches by 30 inches) that he had first envisioned in 1785, when he began to “meditate seriously the subjects of national history, of events of the Revolution.” In 1787 he made preliminary drawings for the small painting. Although he struggled for a time with the arrangement of the figures, he had settled upon a composition by 1788.
To create portraits from life of the people depicted in this and other paintings, Trumbull traveled extensively. He obtained sittings with numerous individuals in Paris (including French officers at Thomas Jefferson’s house) and in New York. In 1791 he was at Yorktown and sketched the site of the British surrender. He continued to work on the small painting during the following years but did not complete it; nevertheless, in January 1817 he showed it and other works in Washington, D.C., and was given a commission to create four monumental history paintings for the Capitol. Surrender of Lord Cornwallis was the second of these large paintings that he completed. He exhibited it in New York City, Boston, and Baltimore before delivering it to the United States Capitol in late 1820. He completed the small painting around 1828; it is now part of the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Trumbull performed the first cleaning and restoration of his Rotunda paintings in 1828, applying wax to their backs to protect them from dampness and cleaning and re-varnishing their surfaces. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the painting was cleaned, restored, varnished, and relined. In 1971, damage from a penny that was thrown hard enough to pierce the canvas was repaired. All of the Rotunda paintings were most recently cleaned in 2008.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Below the eagle and the canopy is the desk of the Vice President of the United States. The Constitution provides that “The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate….” (Art. I, Sec. 3). This original desk, faced with a red “modesty” curtain, was used by every vice president from George Clinton to John Breckinridge.
Suspended above the vice president’s chair is a carved gilded eagle and shield, a symbol of the strength and unity of the young American republic. The piece was planned by Latrobe for the chamber. While the date of the actual installation is unknown, an 1829 guidebook describes the vice president’s chair as “canopied by crimson drapery, richly embossed and held by talons of an o’er hovering eagle.”
Vice President’s Desk
•Desk, Vice President’s
•by Thomas Constantine (attributed)
•Mahogany, wool, 1819 ca.
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 31.13 inches (79.1 cm)
oWidth: 75.38 inches (191.5 cm)
oDepth: 25.50 inches (64.8 cm)
•Cat. no. 65.00044.000
This mahogany desk was likely made by Thomas Constantine, a cabinetmaker from New York. Following the Capitol’s near destruction in 1814 by invading British forces, Constantine was paid for supplying the Senate with, among other items, one “Large Desk for President of Senate” as a cost of $140.
A similar style desk is depicted in engravings of the chamber that date as early as 1848. The desk was used by the Senate until 1859 when they vacated the room for their new chamber. Likely put into storage when the Supreme Court took over the space, the desk was later returned to the Senate in 1973 for the restoration of the historic room.
Large Podium Desk
•Desk, Large Podium
•by Engelhard and Koenig, Inc.
•Mahogany, 1976
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 32.12 inches (81.59 cm)
oWidth: 130 inches (330.2 cm)
oDepth: 17 inches (43.18 cm)
•Cat. no. 65.00046.001
Eagle and Shield
•Eagle and Shield
•by Unidentified
•Wood, gilded, 1838 ca.
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 53.5 inches (135.9 cm)
oWidth: 72 inches (182.9 cm)
oDepth: 23 inches (58.4 cm)
•Unsigned
•Cat. no. 25.00003.000
It is difficult to document the origin of the Senate’s gilded wood Eagle and Shield, which currently adorns the dais in the Old Senate Chamber. An 1809 plan for the room shows that architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe intended to hang an eagle crest and elaborate canopy over the vice president’s desk. His drawing also includes an oval cartouche or escutcheon of unspecified design on the eagle’s breast. However, Latrobe’s bird, with drooping wings, lacks the majesty and drama of the soaring eagle that exists today in the Old Senate Chamber. It is unclear whether his design ever became reality—any evidence would have been destroyed when British troops burned the Capitol in 1814.
Further, records of the art in the Old Senate Chamber are notably scarce. The first reliable evidence of an eagle and shield located in this room appears in an 1838 article in the Daily National Intelligencer. It describes a “rich burnished shield, with an outer margin in the old French style, surmounted by an eagle of the size of life” hanging above the vice president’s dais in the room. [1] From this report it appears that the shield we know today existed from at least 1838, although the official records remain unclear on the matter. In 1846, Senate records indicate payment for “taking down curtains and drapery & irons for Eagle & shield.” The eagle and shield also appear in two mid-19th-century engravings: Thomas Doney’s United States Senate Chamber, published in 1846, and Robert Whitechurch’s The United States Senate, A.D. 1850, dated 1855. In addition, Senate records note that in 1847 a John Wagner was paid $10 for “carving & gilding 1 scroll for eagle,” although the Whitechurch engraving shows no such ribbon in the eagle’s beak.
After the Senate left the room and moved into its new Chamber in 1859, the Supreme Court of the United States used the space. Photographs from this period show that the shield was placed in the outer vestibule, over the door to the Chamber, while the eagle remained in the room. The ornate canopy that hung over the vice president’s desk was removed, and the eagle, now perched on a ribbon-draped horizontal bar, was affixed to the gallery balustrade above the chief justice’s desk. The Court occupied the room until 1935, when it moved to its new building across the street from the Capitol. For several more decades the Eagle and Shield remained in the same locations they occupied during the Court years—the eagle inside the room on the gallery balustrade, and the shield outside over the Chamber’s door. In 1976 the two pieces were reunited inside the room for the restoration of the Old Senate Chamber.
Numerous artistic renderings of eagles are found in the United States Capitol, but the Eagle and Shield in the Old Senate Chamber has become the enduring symbol of the Senate. In 1838 Daniel Webster immortalized the Senate’s eagle as an icon of American patriotism when delivering one of the impassioned speeches for which he was famous. From the floor of the Senate, with the gilded eagle gazing down on him from above the vice president’s dais, he proclaimed, “We have made these struggles here, in the national councils, with the old flag, the true American flag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the chamber in which we sit.” [2]
1.“The Capitol,” Daily National Intelligencer, 3 December 1838.
2.Congressional Globe (12 March 1838) 25th Cong., 2d sess.: 641.
More on Eagle and Shield
In 1782 Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States, which featured an American bald eagle with wings proudly spread. William Barton, one of the Great Seal’s designers, explained that, “The Eagle displayed is the Symbol of supreme Power & Authority, and signifies the Congress.” [1] It is not surprising that the eagle, which occupies such a prominent position on the seal, was meant to symbolize congressional strength. The Articles of Confederation, ratified the previous year, had established Congress as the only federal authority, assigning to it alone many of the powers that the Constitution of 1787 later divided among three separate branches of government.
Shortly after the seal’s adoption the eagle became a symbol, not just for Congress, but for the nation as a whole. The eagle soon began appearing on fabrics, coins, buttons, furniture, and ships’ figureheads. As successive events inflamed patriotic fervor—from the adoption of the Constitution, to George Washington’s inauguration, to the War of 1812—a profusion of eagles spread throughout the American decorative vocabulary.
The shield is no less important in American iconography. First appearing in 1782 as the escutcheon on the eagle’s breast in the Great Seal, the shield proved an apt metaphor for the recently united nation. The pales, or vertical stripes on the shield, symbolize the original 13 colonies standing as one. They support—and at the same time are joined by—the chief, or field at the top of the shield, which represents the unifying authority of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Like the eagle, the shield also is more broadly associated with patriotism and the strength of American democracy.
1.Richard Sharpe Patterson and Richardson Dougall, The Eagle and the Shield: A History of the Great Seal of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State, 1976. Department of State Publication 8900, Department and Foreign Service Series 161), 88.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Tea Party Photos, Washington DC, 03/20/2010, US Capitol Building, Healthcare Reform, Kill the Bill, R[evolution] Photography,
TeaPartyMovement.us, Michelle Bachmann
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Frieze of American History
The Frieze of American History in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol contains a painted panorama depicting significant events in American history. The frieze’s nineteen scenes are the work of three artists: Constantino Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini and Allyn Cox. The frieze is painted in grisaille, a monochrome of whites and browns that resembles sculpture. It measures eight feet and four inches in height and approximately three hundred feet in circumference. It starts fifty-eight feet above the floor.
•Artist: Constantino Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini and Allyn Cox
•Location: Rotunda, U.S. Capitol
Thomas U. Walter’s 1859 cross-section drawing of the new Dome (constructed 1855-1863) shows a recessed belt atop the Rotunda walls with relief sculpture. Eventually it was painted in true fresco, a difficult and exacting technique in which the pigments are applied directly onto wet plaster. As the plaster cures the colors become part of the wall. Consequently, each section of plaster must be painted the day it is laid.
In 1877 the Architect of the Capitol reported, “The belt of the Rotunda intended to be enriched with basso relievos [low relief] is being embellished in real fresco representing in light and shadow events in our history arranged in chronological order, beginning with the Landing of Columbus…”
The frieze is the work of three artists. It was designed by Constantino Brumidi, an Italian artist who studied in Rome before emigrating to America. He worked at the Capitol over a period of twenty-five years, decorating numerous committee rooms and the areas known as the Brumidi Corridors; he also painted the Rotunda canopy fresco, The Apotheosis of Washington. Brumidi created a sketch for the Rotunda frieze in 1859 but was not authorized to begin work until 1877. After enlarging the sketches for the first scenes, Brumidi began painting the frieze in 1878, at the age of seventy-three. His design traces America’s history from the landing of Columbus to the discovery of gold in California. As was common in the history books of the day, the Spanish explorers and the Revolutionary War are emphasized. While working on the figure of William Penn in the scene “William Penn and the Indians,” Brumidi’s chair slipped on the scaffold platform. He saved himself from falling only by clinging to the rung of a ladder for fifteen minutes until he was rescued. He returned to the scaffold once more but then worked on enlarging his remaining sketches until his death a few months later in February 1880.
Filippo Costaggini, who had also been trained in Rome, was selected to complete the remaining eight scenes using Brumidi’s sketches. When he finished in 1889 there was a gap of over thirty-one feet because of early miscalculations about the height of the frieze. Costaggini hoped to fill it with three of his own scenes, but Congress failed to approve his designs before his death in 1904. In 1918 Charles Ayer Whipple painted a trial scene in the blank section; it was later removed.
In 1951 Allyn Cox was commissioned to paint the last three panels tracing the growth of the nation from the Civil War through the birth of aviation. Cox also cleaned and retouched the frieze. The frieze was completed in 1953 and dedicated the next year. In 1986 Congress appropriated funds for a careful cleaning and restoration of the frieze to remove accumulated grime, overpaint, and streaks caused by leaking water. The conservation treatment, completed early in 1987, restored the original details and vividly brought out the illusion of relief sculpture. Minor repairs were made in 1994.
The sequence of nineteen scenes begins over the west door and moves clockwise around the Rotunda.
1.“America and History”
2.“Landing of Columbus” (1492)
3.“Cortez and Montezuma at Mexican Temple” (1520)
4.“Pizarro Going to Peru” (1533)
5.“Burial of DeSoto” (1542)
6.“Captain Smith and Pocahontas” (1607)
7.“Landing of the Pilgrims” (1620)
8.“William Penn and the Indians” (1682)
9.“Colonization of New England”
10.“Oglethorpe and the Indians” (1732)
11.“Battle of Lexington” (1775)
12.“Declaration of Independence” (1776)
13.“Surrender of Cornwallis” (1781)
14.“Death of Tecumseh” (1813)
15.“American Army Entering the City of Mexico” (1847)
16.“Discovery of Gold in California” (1848)
17.“Peace at the End of the Civil War” (1865)
18.“Naval Gun Crew in the Spanish-American War” (1898)
19.“The Birth of Aviation” (1903)
Tea Party Photos, Washington DC, 03/20/2010, US Capitol Building, Healthcare Reform, Kill the Bill, R[evolution] Photography,
TeaPartyMovement.us, Michelle Bachmann
Tea Party Photos, Washington DC, 03/20/2010, US Capitol Building, Healthcare Reform, Kill the Bill, R[evolution] Photography,
TeaPartyMovement.us, Michelle Bachmann
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Minton Tiles
The richly patterned and colored Minton tile floors are one of the most striking features of the extensions of the United States Capitol. They were first installed in 1856, when Thomas U. Walter was engaged in the design and construction of vast additions to the Capitol (1851-1865). For the floors in his extensions, Walter chose encaustic tile for its beauty, durability and sophistication.
•Artist: Minton, Hollins and Company
•Date: Installed in 1856
One striking example of the contrast between the interiors of the Old Capitol (finished in 1826) and the extensions (begun in 1851) may be seen in the differences in flooring materials. In the Old Capitol, stone pavers were used in corridors and other public spaces, such as the Rotunda and Crypt, while brick was used to floor committee rooms and offices. These materials, although durable and fireproof, would have looked plain and old-fashioned to the Victorian eye. In the mid-19th century, encaustic tile flooring was considered the most suitable and beautiful material for high-traffic areas. Unlike ordinary glazed tile, the pattern in encaustic tile is made of colored clays inlaid or imbedded in the clay ground. Because the color is part of the fabric of the encaustic tile, it will retain its beauty after years of wear. One observer noted:
“The indestructibility of tiles may be judged from the fact that the excavations at Pompeii have unearthed apartments where painted tiles are just as beautiful, the colors as fresh and bright as... when the fated city was in all its glory.”
Two types of tile were used at the U.S. Capitol: plain and inlaid encaustic tiles in a range of colors. Plain tiles were used as borders for the elaborate inlaid designs or to pave large corridor areas. They were available in seven colors: buff, red, black, drab, chocolate, light blue and white. Additional colors, such as cobalt blue, blue-gray, and light and dark green, appear in the inlaid encaustic tiles that form the elaborate centerpieces and architectural borders. They were made by “filling indentations in the unburnt tile with the desired colors and burning the whole together.”
The patterns and designs formed in the inlaid tiles were limited only by taste and imagination. They include geometric patterns such as the Greek key, guilloche, and basket weave; floral designs such as the fleur-de-lis; and figures such as dolphins and classical heads. Few of the patterns are repeated. Although most of the tiles are six-by-six-inch squares, some are round, triangular or pie-shaped. Approximately 1,000 different tile patterns are used in the corridors of the Capitol alone, and up to 100 different tiles may be needed to create a single design.
The original encaustic tiles in the Capitol extensions were manufactured at Stoke-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, England, by Minton, Hollins and Company. The firm’s patented tiles had won numerous gold medals at international exhibitions and were considered the best tiles made. In 1876, having seen Minton’s large display at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, one critic wrote, “Messr. Minton shone superior to all exhibits of the sort… and may be cited as showing the highest results in tile-pottery achieved by modern skill and research.”
Beginning in 1856, and continuing for five years, the tile was installed by the import firm of Miller and Coates of New York City. For the journey from New York to Washington, the tiles were packed in wooden casks weighing about 1100 pounds; each cask contained enough tiles to pave about 100 square feet. The cost of the tile ranged from $0.68 to $2.03 per square foot.
Thomas U. Walter had every reason to believe that the encaustic tile floors would last as long as his extensions stood. One visitor noted in 1859 that the tile floors vied with the beauty of marble and surpassed it in durability. While perhaps valid for other installations, however, this prediction proved overly optimistic for the Capitol Building. By 1924, the Minton tile was removed from the corridors in the first and second floors of the House Wing and replaced by “marble tile in patterns of a simple order.” In that day, marble was selected for its superior durability and because suitable replacement tile was difficult to find.
In the 1970s, however, a similar condition prompted a very different response. In 1972, a search was undertaken to determine a source of similar tiles in order to restore the original appearance of the building. Inquiries were made of all major American tile manufacturers, the American Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association, and even Mexican and Spanish tile suppliers. Although the colors and designs could be reproduced relatively easily, the patterns would quickly wear because they would be applied to the surface. The “inlaid” feature of the encaustic tiles, i.e., the approximately 1/8-inch thickness of the pattern and color, is the characteristic that enables the Minton tiles to be walked upon for over 100 years without signs of wear. It was this technique that formed the basic difficulty of manufacture.
Finally, as a result of the Capitol’s needs becoming generally known, the Architect of the Capitol was placed in contact with H & R Johnson Tiles Ltd., located at Stoke-on-Trent, England. It was discovered that that firm was a successor company to the Minton Tile Co. and had even retained many of the original hand tools and forms in a private museum at the company’s manufacturing site.
Contact was then made with Mr. James Ellis, the Directing Architect of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings for the Crown. He had been trying for many years to establish a program for the replacement of the worn Minton tiles at the Houses of Parliament but had more or less given up the attempt because of H & R Johnson’s continued unwillingness to revive the encaustic tile process. However, the restoration work at the Arts and Industries Building of the Smithsonian Institution was in process at about the time the needs of the Capitol became known; it thus appeared that a market for such tiles was developing to the degree that the manufacturer began to reconsider its prior position. The company thus began the experiments that finally led to the present availability, after many decades, of the original Minton-type tiles.
Because the tiles in the Capitol are more decorative and have more complicated designs and color combinations than those in either the Houses of Parliament or the Smithsonian, those institutions were able to obtain replacement tiles sooner than the Capitol. The lessons learned in the manufacture of the simpler tiles served as a basis for filling the later needs.
Color photographs and full-sized drawings of the many required patterns were made and recorded, and many developmental submissions were made as the hand-made manufacturing process was re-developed. Finally, in 1986, the first acceptable tiles were delivered. The installation process was accomplished with modern cement adhesives and has yielded excellent results.
The program enabled the original tiles to be replaced with exact replicas. This project began on the first floor of the Senate wing, where the effects of 130 years of wear and tear were most noticeable. Replacement tile was closely scrutinized to ensure fidelity to the nineteenth-century originals. While difficult and slow, this process is the only fitting response to the history of the Capitol extensions, not only to restore the original beauty and elegance of these unique floors, but also to provide for their continuing attractiveness for the foreseeable future.
Tea Party Photos, Washington DC, 03/20/2010, US Capitol Building, Healthcare Reform, Kill the Bill, R[evolution] Photography,
TeaPartyMovement.us, Michelle Bachmann
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Union Square, west of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. Sculptor: Henry Merwin Shrady.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
A view from across the Patomac River to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building during autumn and sunset. The peak fall foliage adds beautiful colors and the Washington Monument although covered with scafolding due to repairs being done due to damages from the 2010 Earthqauake, looks very elegant when illumnated at sundown.
Image © 2013 Susan Candelario / SDC Photography, All Rights Reserved. The image is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws, and is not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way without written permission.
Susan Candelario artists website to purchase Fine Art Prints If you would like to use this image for any purpose, please visit my site and contact me with any questions you may have. Thank You.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit: