United States Capitol

The United States Capitol is the seat of the U.S. Congress and one of the most recognizable symbols of American democracy. Standing atop Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., its great cast-iron dome — crowned by the Statue of Freedom and completed during the Civil War — presides over the National Mall. For more than two centuries the building has housed the Senate and House of Representatives, and its cornerstone was laid by George Washington himself in 1793.

The Capitol's design emerged from a public competition won by physician and amateur architect William Thornton, whose neoclassical plan George Washington praised for its 'grandeur, simplicity, and convenience.' Washington laid the cornerstone on September 18, 1793. The north, or Senate, wing was completed first, and Congress occupied the still-unfinished building beginning in 1800.

During the War of 1812, British forces set fire to the Capitol on August 24, 1814, gutting the interior; a sudden thunderstorm is often credited with saving it from total destruction. Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe led the reconstruction, and Charles Bulfinch completed the restored building, including its first low copper-clad dome, by 1826.

As new states swelled the ranks of Congress, architect Thomas U. Walter oversaw a dramatic expansion in the 1850s, adding the massive marble House and Senate wings. To keep the enlarged building in proportion, Walter replaced the old dome with the towering cast-iron dome that defines the Capitol today. President Lincoln insisted the work continue through the Civil War as a sign of the Union's endurance, and the bronze Statue of Freedom was raised atop the dome in December 1863.