The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Although no longer at the geographic center of the national capital, the U.S. Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a neoclassical style and has a white exterior.
Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich bass voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".
The subway system of the United States Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C., consists of three underground electric people mover systems that connect the United States Capitol to several congressional office buildings – all of the Senate buildings and one of the House buildings.
The Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building is the third U.S. Senate office building, and is located on 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue NE and C Street NE, northeast of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Construction began in January 1975, and it was first occupied in November 1982. Rapidly rising construction costs plagued the building, creating several unfortunate scandals. The structure is named for Philip A. Hart (1912-1976), who served 18 years as a United States Senator from Michigan. Accessed via a spur of the United States Capitol Subway System, the building features a nine-story atrium dominated by massive artwork, and a large Central Hearing Facility which provides television facilities as well as extensive seating.
The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russell Jr. from Georgia in 1972. It occupies a site north of the Capitol bounded by Constitution Avenue, First Street, Delaware Avenue, and C Street N.E.
The Architect of the Capitol is the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex. It is an agency of the legislative branch of the federal government and is accountable to the United States Congress and the Supreme Court. Both the agency and the head of the agency are called "Architect of the Capitol". The head of the agency is appointed by a vote of a congressional commission for a ten-year term. Prior to 2024, the president of the United States appointed the Architect upon confirmation vote by the United States Senate, and was accountable to the president.
The Cannon House Office Building, often called the "Old House Office Building", completed in 1908, is the oldest office building of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. A significant example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, it occupies a site south of the United States Capitol bounded by Independence Avenue, First Street, New Jersey Avenue, and C Street S.E. In 1962 the building was named for former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Joseph Gurney Cannon.
Michael Gary Turnbull, FAIA is a Canadian-born American architect who has spent much of his career in the public sector as a custodian of major public buildings, notably the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., as the assistant to the Architect of the Capitol and as the Director of Design and Construction at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The curator of the United States Senate is responsible for the care of the Senate collection of art and artifacts. The current curatress of the Senate is Melinda K. Smith.
The United States Capitol Complex is a group of twenty buildings, grounds, and facilities in Washington, D.C., that are used by the United States Congress, and federal courts. The buildings and grounds within the complex are managed and supervised by the Architect of the Capitol.
The congressional office buildings are the office buildings used by the United States Congress to augment the limited space in the United States Capitol. The congressional office buildings are part of the Capitol Complex, and are thus under the authority of the Architect of the Capitol and protected by the United States Capitol Police. The office buildings house the individual offices of each U.S. Representative and Senator as well as committee hearing rooms, staff rooms, multiple cafeterias, and areas for support, committee, and maintenance staff.
The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is a large underground addition to the United States Capitol complex which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the U.S. Congress. It is located below the landscaped tree-shaded grounds of the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, topped by a thick plastic / glass skylight on the surface, between the Capitol building and 1st Street East, towards the east. The complex contains 580,000 square feet (54,000 m2) of space below ground on three levels. The overall project's budget was $621 million dollars.
David Lynn was an American architect and honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. He served as Architect of the Capitol from 1923 until 1954.
The United States Senate Library is the official library of the United States Senate. While the Library informally began in 1792, it was officially established in 1871, and today holds an estimated 220,000 volumes.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction within Washington, D.C. In accordance with the Old Georgetown Act, the CFA appoints the Old Georgetown Board. The Old Georgetown Board has design review authority over all semipublic and private structures within the boundaries of the Georgetown Historic District. The CFA was granted approval authority by the Shipstead-Luce Act over the design and height of public and private buildings which front or abut the grounds of the United States Capitol, the grounds of the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue NW extending from the Capitol to the White House, Lafayette Square, Rock Creek Park, the National Zoological Park, the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, Potomac Park, and the National Mall and its constituent parks.
The Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument is a historic house and museum of the U.S. women's suffrage and equal rights movements located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The monument is named after suffragists and National Woman's Party leaders Alva Belmont and Alice Paul.
Parran Hall is the former name of an academic building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh on Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The building, constructed to house the Graduate School of Public Health, was completed in 1957, and designed by Eggers & Higgins, architects of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in the International Style with a major addition by Deeter-Ritchey-Sippel and Crump completed in 1967. The school was founded in 1948 with a $13.6 million grant from the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. It was originally named after Thomas Parran Jr., a former head of the United States Public Health Service at the time the Public Health Service was sponsoring the Tuskegee experiment, in which patients with syphilis were studied but did not receive treatment for the disease.
The United States Senate Chamber is a room in the north wing of the United States Capitol that has served as the legislative chamber of the United States Senate, since January 4, 1859. The Senate first convened in its current meeting place after utilizing Federal Hall, Congress Hall, and the Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol building for the same purpose.
The O'Neill House Office Building is an office building in Washington, D.C., that houses offices of both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is named after former United States Representative (congressman) from Massachusetts and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (1912-1994), and located at 200 C Street Southwest in the Southwest Federal Center district, at the foot of Capitol Hill.
The United States Senate's hideaways are about 100 secret offices in the U.S. Capitol building used by members of the Senate and by a few senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their locations are unlisted in any official directory, and their doors are marked only by a room number. Senators use hideaways as a private space to prepare for sessions of the Senate, conduct confidential meetings, take naps, and for other personal purposes. They range from lavish and expansive upper-floor offices to small, cramped offices in the basement. Hideaways are assigned to senators based on seniority. The history of hideaways dates to the earliest occupancy of the U.S. Capitol in 1800. However, they proliferated in the early 20th century.
