Throughout its history, the consciousness of Washington D.C.'s
national and international importance has guided the layout of its
public spaces and the design of its public buildings. For George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Figures most
responsible for overseeing the initial design and direction of the
Capitol, America's principle legislative building should be a
unique architectural expression of the country's new political
system. However, creating a structure of such significance
presented numerous pragmatic and political difficulties, as well as
changing symbolic intensions, as Revolutionary-era iconography gave
way to that expressive of national expansion.
In Temple of Liberty, Pamela Scott presents an in-depth
exploration of the first United States Capitol begun in 1793 but
not completed until 1916 with the placement of sculpture in the
House wing's pediment. This fascinating work is an accompaniment to
the "Temple of Liberty" exhibition scheduled to be held at the
Madison Gallery of the Library of Congress in the Spring of
1995--an exhibition of original prints, drawings, and documents
that depict a young nation building its first and most significant
architectural symbol. Together, the book and exhibition will offer
a new understanding of the role of this important building in the
history of American architecture and evolution of our
government.
Explaining the origins and meaning of several symbols proposed
during the late eighteenth century, such as the snake and eagle,
and allegorical figures of Hercules, Minerva, and Mercury, Scott
shows how they were used to create a composite American iconography
derived from European and American elements to portray such
concepts as national unity, liberty, and plenty. She focuses on the
Capitol's protracted design competition process which featured both
open and invitational competitions that began in early 1792 and
continued through mid-1793. In turn, she reviews the entries of the
various contestants (as well as their interaction with Washington
and Jefferson, the competition judges), including the amateur
architect and physician William Thornton, whose submission was
eventually chosen as the winning plan for the Capitol, and Stephen
Sulpice Hallet, a professional architect who took second place and
was hired to build Thornton's design. Scott discusses the actual
construction of the Capitol, from the development of its facade and
grounds, based on a modified version of Thornton's original plan,
through the building's completion nearly four decades later. She
goes on to detail the growth of the magnificent interior spaces,
from the Senate and House wings, to the center building that
contained the crypt, rotunda, and Library of Congress. We see how
two of America's foremost architects, Benjamin Henry Latrobe and
Charles Bulfinch, emerged as the primary form givers, despite the
fact that their definitions of how to express American national
identity through architecture, differed considerably. Throughout,
she focuses on the effort to create uniquely American architectural
elements, from a fiesty American bald eagle instead of the
classical Roman eagle, to columns featuring tobacco and corn
motifs. Finally, Scott illustrates how the Capitol was extended in
the 1850s and 1860s into the structure that exists today which
dwarfs the original building--two new wings and a much higher
dome--and the efforts made to continue the symbolic themes of the
first Capitol in the architectural, painted, and sculpted programs
of the project.
From the first Capitol's chaste Neoclassicism to its vibrant
Victorian additions, the intention was that it express in its
architecture and decoration our national political, social, and
cultural ideals. Entertaining and informative, Temple of Liberty
explores these concerns and the manner in which they were achieved,
showing how quickly and widely the Capitol became a premier symbol
in America's popular consciousness.
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