Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-10-22
RESTORING THE ROTUNOA.
Great Improvements Being Made on
The Capitol Building 1T
Washington.

u
look as il did nearly half a century
ago before the inside was Sn'Varcd
" i,n hlu,-gray paint and rendered IN
attractive to the artistic eye. TEe II
side of the rotunda undeniabh necded
Cleaning and Furnishing up, but ii
was rather a serious quest ION what
should be done with it. There had
lecn various suggestions. one for a
mosaic floor and others for mural
Geccrations. SO that il should rival the
congressional library across the plaza.
But after considering everything Su=
rerintendent Woods decided simply to
restore it. and the work which is now
alomst completed seems to amply jus
tify the decision, says the Washington
Star
The work began at the great ale
gorical picture in the roof. That was
thoroughly cleaned and then the i'll
terror of the dome was painted. This
was work of several weeks and the
PAINTERS did stunts druing that time
that would have ranked with high
not stick of inferior scaffolding put
UP for the job, but the iron plates of
which the interior of the dome is
built were losened in places, ropes
dropped through the openings and the
swinging scaffolds from which the
painters worked were launched out In
midair from the balconies around the
upper part of the rotunda. The paint
ers then drew themselves up to the
inside shell of the dome and worked
as far as they could reach, after which
the swinging scaffolds were let down
and move to a fresh spot.
But when it came to treating the in
terror of the rotunda from the great
Rrumidi frieze down it was different
proposition and one calling for the
chemist rather than the painter Prob.
ably many people of the present gen.
GRAFTON do not know that the capitol
was originally built of the old Aqua
creek sandstone, and one that it was
an artictic sin ever to cover with paint.
All the interior of the rotunda is built
of this stone that is now a soft gray
white, just the tint to harmonic with
the dark marble floor when the latter
is cleaned, as it will be when the work
is done.
All around the interior are stone
carvings, wreaths and sarlands ON the
walls and high reliefs over the doors
representing scenes from the colonial
days and the early history of the
country. These carvings, covered as
they have been for years with heavy
coats of paint of uncertain color, have
looked like cheap plaster casts and
the whole effect of the interior has
been that CT makeshia.. structure
rther than of solid stone
When it was decided to go back to
the Old stone foundation, the problem
was to get the paint Off, and a good
many rencvators and paint removers
Of different sorts were tried Finally,
however, Mr.. Woods tried lime, slack
ed with potash, and this did the trick
without injuring the stone The real
character of the stone carvings only
began to show as the paint was gotten
off. They came out In shap outline
and proved to be really wonderfully
fine work for this country at the be-
ginning of the century. It was found,
also, that some sections Of the stone
work had been destroyed when gas
pipes were run through the capitol,
and these blemishes had to be removed
and the whole work restored. But the
result is very satisfying and the inter-
ior of the rotunda this winter will
tistic piece of work and not a painted
sham.
There is. however, some excuse for
III. apparent vandalism Of painting
the interior, II one will only consider
tbs conditions with which the house.
keepers of the nation had to deal at
that time. When the capitol was
lighted by gas, the amount of smoke
that was generated was simply appall
ing. Everyone knows if you blow
sas flame it will smoke Now the cap
itol is a veritable "Cave of the Winds.
even ignoring the hot air that is con-
stanly emanating from the house AMI
senate. The hundreds of gas jets
smoked so that is ws impossible to
keep the interior of the building clean.
The rotunda, every passage and the
statues throughout the place were con-
stantly being covered with a film of
lampblack. Finally, in despair, the ro-
tunda was painted, which made it
easier to clean, but ruined the artistic
appearance of the interior.