Identifier: picturesquewashi00moor (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: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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better realization of thesolidity of the Capitol than from the ground below. The massiveedifice, composed of marble, sandstone, andiron, is spread out directlyto the eye, and its huge proportions are clearly revealed in all theirstrength and grand symmetry. One can see that faithful, honestwork has been done in constructing this greatest and most beautifulof American edifices — work that will certainly bear the test of time.Every part of the Capitol has a very substantial appearance, and look-ing at it from the elevation afforded by the great iron sphere, no onecan fail to be impressed with its solidity. Around the tholus orlantern of the dome are placed numerous electric lights, which havea greater elevation than any similar lights in the country. Theyilluminate the dome at night in a magnificent manner. A largeelectric light, with a strong reflector, is placed at the base of the domeon the western side, and this light each evening casts its powerfulrays far up Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Si 131*25191 COtdiOoitJKOOO r* W si -* «o - © .-I *»« ■* CHAPTER V. INTERIOR OF THE CAPITOL —THE ROTUNDA —ITS HISTORICAL PAINTINGS ANDCANOPY —THE NATIONAL STATUARY HALL —STATUES CONTRIBUTED BY THESTATES—THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES—THE COURT CHAM-BER—FAMOUS JUSTICES AND INTERESTING COURT CUSTOMS—THE LIBRARYOF CONGRESS—DETAILS OF THE VAST NATIONAL COLLECTION OF BOOKS. THE Rotunda, which occupies the centre of the interior of theCapitol, is a grand circular hall, ninety-five feet six inches indiameter, and three hundred feet in circumference. From thefloor to the canopy over what is called the eye of the dome,it is one hundred and eighty feet three inches in height. Lookingupward, you see at first the thirty-six long windows of the peristyle ofthe dome, which admit a flood of light, and then the gigantic iron ribsand frame of the dome itself, gradually curving to the open eye,*which is fifty feet in diameter. The canopy suspended directly over-head appe

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