The U.S. Capitol was built atop Jenkins’ Hill, now often
referred to as "Capitol Hill," in 1793. Since then many
additional buildings have been constructed around this site to serve Congress
and the Supreme Court.
In accordance with the "Residence Act" passed by
Congress in 1790, President Washington in 1791 selected the area that is now
the District of Columbia to serve as the nation’s capital. French engineer
Pierre Charles L'Enfant was charged with planning the new city of Washington.
He located the U.S. Capitol Building at the elevated east end of the National
Mall, on the brow of what was then called Jenkins' Hill. The site was, in
L'Enfant's words, "a pedestal waiting for a monument." As the country
grew so did Capitol Hill, with the construction of buildings housing the
Congress, Supreme Court, Library of Congress and Botanic Garden.
The construction of the U.S. Capitol Building began
in 1793, and for over a century it was the only building created for the use of
the nation's legislature.
In fact, the Capitol initially housed not only the Congress
but also the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the district courts and
other offices. In the following decades the nation grew dramatically, and as a
result, so did the Congress. The Capitol Building and its grounds were enlarged
accordingly, and by 1892 the building had reached essentially its present size
and appearance (with the exception of the east front extension [1958-1962] and
courtyard infill areas [1991-1993]).
Despite the enlargement of the U.S. Capitol, the crowding
inside soon became intolerable: in addition to the House and Senate, the
building still housed the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. In 1897
the Library departed the Capitol for its own separate building, which is today
known as the Thomas Jefferson Building. This
event was followed by the construction of the first separate buildings for
the House and Senate. Like the Library of Congress building, these were first
known by "generic" names: the House Office Building (now named the Cannon House Office Building) opened
in 1908, and the Senate Office Building (now named the Russell Senate Office Building)
opened the next year. They were provided with steam for heating (and,
originally, electricity) by the new Capitol Power Plant, which became operational
in 1910 and subsequently underwent several expansions.
The 1930s was a decade of major construction on Capitol
Hill. In 1933 the U.S. Botanic Garden’sconservatory, director's
residence, and Bartholdi Park were completed; the Senate Office Building's
First Street wing, which had been omitted during construction for funding
reasons, was added; and an additional House Office Building (later named the Longworth House Office Building)
was occupied. The Supreme Court at last found a permanent
home when its own building was completed in 1935. The last building constructed
within the campus in the 1930s was the Library of Congress
Annex, now named the John Adams Building, which opened in
1939.
Within 20 years attention returned to the need for more
congressional office space; this led to the construction of a second building
for the Senate (now named the Dirksen Senate Office Building),
which was completed in 1958. The House's third building, the Rayburn House Office Building, opened
in 1965. In the 1970s two more buildings became available for the House: the
former Congressional Hotel (named the O'Neill Building; demolished in 2002) and
a larger building originally constructed for the FBI (now the Ford Building). A
third building for the Library of Congress, the James Madison Memorial Building,
opened in 1980; the Senate's third building, the Hart Senate Office Building, was
occupied in 1982. The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, which
serves the Supreme Court, opened in 1992.
In 1989 the Botanic Garden's Production Facility, was
constructed in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. In 2008, the last
major addition to the Capitol was completed when the Capitol Visitor Center opened to
the public.
aoc.gov
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