How Did an Amateur Design the U.S. Capitol?

To design the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the fledgling American government held an open competition -- and an amateur won. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/revolutionary-war/us-capitol-design-competition.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, the production of iHeart Radio. Hey,
brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here the U. S Capital stands
now as the foremost architectural symbol of America. But more
than the White House, more than the various monuments that
dot Washington, d C's landscape. The Capitol Building perched magnificently

(00:22):
for more than two centuries on a hill overlooking the city.
In many ways is America. It's where the legislative dirty
work of democracy is done. The Capitol Building, befitting its status,
is visited under normal circumstances by more than three million
people every year, tourists, school kids, and international visitors bingle

(00:43):
over the roughly four acres of grounds on which the
Capitol Building sits. The builders envisioned that kind of interest,
if not in those numbers, perhaps they saw that the
capital would become a symbol for the nation, and thus
decided that it should reflect the majesty of the ideas
the United States represents. For the article, this episode is

(01:04):
based on How Stuff Works. Spoke Ya email with Christopher J. Howard,
a professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at
the Catholic University of America in Washington, d C. He said,
as a new nation, it was important to set a
tone and establish a physical manifestation of the ideas and
aspiration that this new nation represented, important for its own
sake but also relative to the world. In projecting a

(01:27):
confident identity of democratic values in a new republic meant
to endure and be timeless. Settling on exactly how those
ideals should be architecturally expressed, though, was hardly self evident.
In the end, it was the result of a competition
dreamed up by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and judged

(01:48):
by Jefferson, President George Washington, and the commissioners of the
District of Columbia. French engineer Pierre Charles Lamfont, who laid
out the blueprint for Washington, d C. And the placement
of the capital on what was then known as Jenkins Hill,
was expected to design the capital building, but after he
refused to submit plans he was said to have it

(02:10):
all planned out in his head. Jefferson suggested an open competition.
The judges received seventeen entrants, they weren't thrilled with any
of them. The plans came from French, German, and Italian
architects among others, and all tried to reflect what they
thought the fledgling country stood for. From the Library of

(02:30):
Congress Archives quote, Most competitors drew upon Renaissance architectural models,
either filtered through the lens of eighteenth century English and
American Georgian traditions, or based directly on buildings illustrated in
Renaissance treatises. The Capital Competition coincided with nascent neo Classicism
in America, in which forms and details from Greek and

(02:52):
Roman architecture were revived. Three of the competition entries were
inspired by ancient classical buildings. Many of those plans, if
they had been realized, would have given a distinctly different
flavor to the building from what we have come to know.
Irish architect James Diamond's vision, for example, featured a string

(03:12):
of arched windows on the first floor, and the building
was capped by a modest dome. A Frenchman, Stephen Hallett,
provided a fancy plan in the neoclassical style that was
relatively well received but would have made snowy DC winters difficult.
William Thornton, a physician trained in Scotland, submitted a late
idea allowed by the largely disappointed judges that envisioned a

(03:37):
three section building, a center portion topped by a low
dome in the style of the Pantheon in Rome, and
two sections on both sides of it, one for the
House of Representatives and one for the Senate. Washington lauded
Thornton's work for its quote, grandeur, simplicity, and convenience. The
amateur architects plans were ultimately chosen, and Thornton one five

(04:00):
hundred dollars and a plot of land in Washington, d C.
For his efforts. Howard said Thornton was able to step
in with an inspired design idea that clearly resonated with
the selection commission. A part of that success, I believe
is attributed to showing a design that resembles what had
already been implied and Pierre Leon Fonts plan for Washington,

(04:20):
d C. Which already had purchase in terms of the
physical imagining of what a capital building might promise. Work
on the U S Capital began in sevente By eighteen hundred,
though the building wasn't anywhere near finished. The Congress, the
Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the courts of
the District of Columbia moved in. The Congress and Supreme

(04:42):
Court had been meeting at Federal Hall in New York
City and in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, and with that
American Democracy had its permanent home. Through the years, the
Capital has undergone many changes, though never straying far from
Thornton's neo classical vision. The building was out of flame
by the British in the War of eighteen twelve, almost

(05:02):
burning to the ground on August eighteen fourteen. In the
second half of the nineteenth century, a major renovation and
expansion took place of more than doubling the length of
the Capital In eighteen fifty six, and almost four thousand,
five hundred ton iron dome replaced a much smaller, copper
covered wooden dome over the center section of the building.

(05:23):
In eighteen sixty three, the nineteen and a half foot
that's six meter nearly fifteen thousand pounds or seven thousand
kilo Statue of Freedom was hoisted to the top of
the new dome. Terraces were added over the years, grounds
were improved, renovations were made, and in two thousand and eight,
the largest project in the capital's history opened, A five

(05:44):
hundred and eighty thousand square foot that's fifty four thousand
square meter visitor center located completely underground on the east
side of the capital as so not to ruin Thornton's
original vision, Howard said, the end product, in many ways
seems inevitable by virtue of the many people involved being
guided by the same essential good idea and language, along

(06:07):
with basic principles and goals for our nation in mind.
This is truly a democratic building and it shows that
as a result. I do think it still stands for
what Thornton and Jefferson envisioned because it is not a subjective,
arbitrary application of architectural language. It is what it was
always intended to be and will continue to do so.

(06:33):
Today's episode is based on the article how the US
Capital's design was chosen by public competition on how stuff
works dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is
production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works
dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klain. For
more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Two