Identifier: picturesquewas00moor (find matches)
Title: Picturesque Washington: pen and pencil sketches of its scenery, history, traditions, public and social life, with graphic descriptions of the Capitol and Congress, the White House, and the government departments ..
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Moore, Joseph West
Subjects: Washington (D.C.)
Publisher: Providence : J.A. & R.A. Reid
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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igh. The ceiling is com-posed of large iron girders and cross-pieces, in which are panels ofglass containing painted emblems representing the Union, Progress,the Army and Navy, and the Mechanical Arts. At night hundreds THE SENATE CHAMBER. 119 of gas-jets, arranged back of the ceiling, throw a flood of softenedlight into all portions of the chamber. The walls are painted in ex-quisite tints and decorated in gold, and have buff panels. Arrangedon the floor in concentric semicircles are mahogany desks and chairsfor the Senators. On a dais is the chair of the President of the Senate,and in front of it is a broad mahogany desk. To the right of thepresidents chair is the chair of the sergeant-at-arms, and to the leftthat of the assistant door-keeper. In front of the presidents desk arethe desks of the Senate clerks and the tables of the official reporters.Galleries with seats for 1,000 persons extend around the chamber.Above the presidents chair is a gallery for reporters of the press, and
Text Appearing After Image:
THI-; PRESIDENT S ROOM- I20 PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. directly opposite is one lor the diplomatic corps. The others are forthe public^ Two grand staircases of highly polished marble lead to the Sen-ate galleries from the public corridor. The eastern staircase is con-structed of variegated Tennessee marble, with white marble steps.A stained glass skylight set in a paneled iron frame is placed over-head. From the main floor a broad flight of sixteen steps leads tothe first landing ; thence the ascent is by a double flight of eighteensteps. In a niche at the foot of the staircase is a marble statue ofBenjamin Franklin, by Hiram Powers, executed at a cost of $10,000.On the wall above the first landing is a large painting of PerrvsVictory on Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813. It was painted by W. H.Powell, and cost $25,000. Commodore Perry is represented in aboat, making the perilous transfer of the flag from the disabled Law-rence to the Niagara, during a tremendous cannonading. The western stairca

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