Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-14
CONGRESS MET HERE
Dramatic History Of the Old Capitol
Building.
4 HOTEL ONCE And 4 PRISON
Now Turned Into Fashionable
Residences.
WAR TIME MEMO RIES
HOTEL ONCE And 4 PRISON
WAR TIME MEMORIES

mansard slate roof with a sloping, hump
backed single one. Brick up all the win
dows and outside doors. Cut four lines
Of old-faShioned window easements On
the LIST street side in successive lay
ers, making three stories in height,
In the center on the ground floor
batter an opening large enough to admit
caravan and make of 1t an arched doorway.
Over this. extending to the slanting roof.
open an arched window the same width as
the door below. Let the A street side be
the gable end. In the middle Of it place
two great arched windows, one above the
other. thanked by three stories Of height.
They whitewash the building half way up
and paint the other half faded red. Fill
up each bordering street to a level with
the present terrace. Lay an uneven brick
sidewalk, extending to an imitation gutter.
which never drained. Outside make a road
way Of loose stones and clay and you have
nightmare of architecture, but the old
Capitol just the same, house with a his
tory more famous than that of any other
in the country. 1t became a refuge
for Congress when Congress had nowhere
else to shelter its head. A platform hung
from one Of its arched windows once, and
upon 1t one of the Presidents delivered his
inaugural. 1t became a meeting place for
intel national commissions adjusting claims.
1t was school where youth acclaimed the
speeches made by Congress in it years be-
fo 1t was a first-class boarding house,
and with the years met the fate common
to first-class boarding houses in Washing
ton by becoming tenement. 1t was a
prison In which brave men langushe6 and
in its yard four or five languishing went to
death at the end Of the rope. Finally its
vagabond course was checked and reno
waited, renewed and modernized. 1t has
become the home of wealth and luxury.
Daniel Carrolps Farm.
The site Of Lanier place before the loca-
ton Of the capital city was a portion of
farm land belonging to Daniel Carroll of
Duddington. In the division of lands be-
tween the United States and the original
proprietors according to agreement it be-
came the property Of the public. At the
first sale of Washington real estate the
square having been previously subdivded
into lots. 1t was sold. The corner of LIST
ington for s409.65, and a year later ne sold
1t to the unfortunate George Walker for
s65O.16. John Kearney bought an adjoining
lot on A street in 1900 for $2.1S6 After a
series Of transfers the whole was finally
bought by William Tunneclffe, and upon it.
In 1904. he erected a building and in 1t OPEN
ed the hotel known by his name. 1t subse-
auently passed into the possession of Pom
w
keeper of that day. but STEELE appears to
have had little success with It, An old print
OF the times pictures the building as three
story brick structure. with veranda and a
courtyard.
The hotel was offered for sale in 1905, but
no purchaser desiring 1t at the price asked
1t fell to Peter Miller for Stelle's debts. 1t
| remained vacant until September 1870 when
Samuel j. Coolidge opened 1t, but he likewise
failed. The property was sold in 1912 to
Daniel Carroll Carroll did not thrive with
his purchase. Tenants were shy and slow
The building remained with closed shutters
unlighted, going to decay, with its stabling
and outhouses and large airy rooms. but
still awaiting an occupancy which was to
make 1t famous.
When the British Came.
Toward the middle of the year 1914 the
atmosphere of Washington was full of
wars rumors of the intended occupation
of the city by the British, and so imminent
was the danger thought to be that Madi-
son, by proclamation, on August 8, called
an extra session of Congress, to meet on
the 10Th of September following Alas!
When Congress came the charred, blacken-
ed walls Of the Capitol and the ashes of
the public buildings told the tale of the
fatal visit of the British on that sultry
August day preceding, and among the few
| private houses burned was Carrolls Hotel
on Capitol Hill. There was no place for
the deliberations of Congress in the CAPT.
| tai On the northeast corner OF Sth and Z
streets stood the wreck of the great hotel,
| concentrating poor Sam Blodget's folly,
| misfortune and misguided hopes in the
capitals promise. For several years prior
| to 1914 it was used as the offices of the
! general post office and patent office. 1t was
| the only public building which escaped
| British wrath, and it's safety was due to
the exertions of DR.. Thornton, the first
Ross and Cockburn that science would sus-
| tain an irretrievable loss in the destruc-
| ton Of his handful Of models. In this
| building the third session of the Thirteenth
| Congress was held. But little was done
| during the session, which began on
| September 10. 1914. and ended on March 4.
| 1876 except the consideration of the sub
ject Of removing the capital The removal
ruin to the property holders Of Wash
! ington. To avert such calamity, the
| most strenuous efforts were begun. For
once, sectional jealousies were suspend
| ed, and the citizens were a unit. Rea-
sonable assurances from the southern
delegations were received that If sufficient
accommodations were prepared for the re-
ception of Congress at the ensuing session
| Washington would continue the meeting
| place of Congress. There was no time for
theory. The crisis meant quick action or
ruin. Accordingly joint stock company
| was organized to build temporary Capitol,
cor sisting of Daniel Carroll of Duddington,
Elias B. Caldwell, Griffith Coombe, VIM.
Brent and w. Emack. The company was
| known as the 'C3pltOl Hotel Company.
| Carroll offered his lots on the corner of A
| and 1st streets, in square No. 12S, to be
| rated as SO much stock, and the site and
| his offer being considered the most avail
| able ones they were accepted.
The Temporary Capitol.
The corner stone of the temporary Capt.
| toll was laid on the Fourth of July, 1915
| Work was at once commenced. and al
| though, as the Philadelphia Commercial
Advertiser of that date says, "On that day
| the ground was garden: the brick for the
| building clay, and the timber lay uncut in
| woods, speedily was the work pushed
| forward by the harmonious action of the
company that when Congress assembled
| in the following December a large and
| commodious structure having cost $50, 900
awaited their reception" The first session
of the Fourteenth Congress met on the 4th
of December at Blodget's Hotel. Henry
| Clay was elected Speaker of the House
| and one of his first acts was to lay before
| that body letter from Daniel Carroll and
others offering the new building on Capito
| Hill for the temporary use of Congress
| The matter was at once referred to the
| proper committee, and the same action was
| taken in the Senate. On the Sth of De.
cember a bill was passed authorizing the
| President to lease the new building or
| Capitol Hill, on square 72S, with the ad
joining buildings and appurtenances, fol
| tha Of fro, ,,,,fi