The United States Capitol in 1800 was the largest and most ambitious building program on the continent. The building also was America’s first modern, international style building. The synergy of Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s inventive design and President Thomas Jefferson’s touchstone guidance brought about the Capitol’s first manifestation spanning two decades. This building, in the minds of both Jefferson and Latrobe, would be not just the house of the United States’ bicameral legislature, but also would be an architectural model for the country as it expanded and matured. It was a tall order. The Capitol would be destroyed by British troops in 1814. Latrobe’s masterpiece within the building’s South Wing, the Hall of Representatives, a room described only in superlatives in contemporary reports and yet never before seen, is the subject of my research and my digital recreation.
Auteur: Richard Chenoweth