The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-09-18
RIRTHDAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITOL.

Tho national capitol, where world history is |
now being made has a birthday today. One nun
dred and twenty-five years ago, on September 10,
1893 the cornerstone was laid for the imposing
nile that now dominates the whole city OF Wash I
inpton with its simple grandeur. President Wash /
ington officiated at the ceremony and many OF T
he dipnitaries of the young nation were in at I
tendance
The work of construction on the capitol pro-
ceeded very slowly. For many years after the
cornerstone was laid there was little to suggest
to the imagination picture of the colossal pile,
the first sight of which today fills every Ameri
can visitor with and with pride.
number of different architects superintended
the early work of construction. Included among
them were Stephen Hallet, Frenchman; John
Hoban, Irishman; George Hadfeld, an Eng
lishman, and William Thornton, who hailed from
the West Indies. The real father of the capitol"
was Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an English archi-
tect, whose services were employed by the gov
eminent in 1903. He designed the ground plan
for the two wings and also the two legislative
halls, and superintendent their construction. He
also rebuilt the capitol after the British burned
it in 1914
When the capitol was burned in 1914 the work
of Latrobe which escaped the flames and still
stand are the corridors, committee rooms, the
stairs and the lobby When he was chosen to
reconstruct the building after the disastrous
work of the fiames he designed vestibule in
which six columns and each column is COM
posed of cornstalks bound together in such way
as to make the joints in the stalks form spiral
effect, while the capitals of the columns are mod
! eled from the ears of the cereal. This was
! unique order of architecture and was at once at
tractive and purely American. Another unique
design along the same line is to be found in the
capitals of the columns forming the circular col
onade in the north wing, which represent the
tobacco plant He also left drawings of capt.
tails designed from the cotton plant.
Following Latrobe the work of design and con-
structlon was entrusted to Charles Bullfinch of
Boston, who was the first native American arcbi
tect employed on the building Bullinch built the
Old dome, the rotunda and library and the glacis
and terrace the west side His work was
largely a continuation of the plans drawn bv
Latrobe.
The centre of the capitol was not fully COM
NtASAi AO-c, years before
| the two wings were added For a quarter of
| century the structure remained practically as
| Bullfinch had left it. Then, in 1850. CONGRESS
! decided to replace the old wings by larger ones
| The work of reconstruction was not finished nm
/ til after the civil war;
| The center of the capitol, from which rises the
aagnlhcent dome, is constructed of white sand
stone and the wings, of white marble The col
ossal dome is 1876 feet in diameter at the base
line and rises to height of 287 feet. A cupola
surmounts the dome, and browning the cupola is
| Crawford's we-known Statue of Liberty, beau
tiful bronze figure 20 feet high.
The central feature of the interior of the build
ing is the great rotunda, which is 1876 feet high
| and 300 feet in circumference. Ornamenting the
rotunda are series of magnificent paintings,
/ representing American scenes. Most notable of
the collection of paintings are the six canvases
painted by Trumbull, depicting notable events of
| the American revolution
The capitol is surrounded by park of twenty
! two and one-half acres. Since the laying of the
| cornerstone one hundred and twenty-five years
~3-r, oAN