The national Capitol; its architecture, art and history . the center building from April 20, 1818, to May 2,1828, is placed in the estimates of the Treasury Department at 51,108, old Capitol covered 67,220 square feet of ground: and its parkingcontained 22*2 acres. In the old days, the park was enjoyed to the fullestextent by the public. Croquet grounds were marked off for the pleasure ofthose who lived near the Capitol ; and until the commencement of the newterrace, the grounds were yearly the scene of much merriment on Easter, whenthe sodded embankments were given up to children fo
The national Capitol; its architecture, art and history . the center building from April 20, 1818, to May 2,1828, is placed in the estimates of the Treasury Department at 51,108, old Capitol covered 67,220 square feet of ground: and its parkingcontained 22*2 acres. In the old days, the park was enjoyed to the fullestextent by the public. Croquet grounds were marked off for the pleasure ofthose who lived near the Capitol ; and until the commencement of the newterrace, the grounds were yearly the scene of much merriment on Easter, whenthe sodded embankments were given up to children for egg-rolling. Theparking was enclosed until about 1874 by an iron fence except where thenine gates—two for carriages both north and south, two for pedestrians onthe east and three for them on the west—opened to the walks and of the original fence and gates are still to be seen about thegrounds of the Smithsonian Institution. They recall to the older inhabitantsof the District the watchmans cry about nine oclock, , from the east. front of the building: Close the gates! The driveway gates were not locked until much later than those to the walks. Congressmen, delayedat the Capitol, were often seen to pick up a convenient stone and break alock rather than seek peaceful exit. MARBLE EXTENSIONS Not many years elapsed before it became evident that the Capitol was notsufficiently commodious to meet the purposes for which it had been built, andthat even the masterly forethought of George Washington regarding CongressHouse had failed to realize the demands soon to be made upon its capacityby increase of population, the admission of new States and the acquisitionof vast territory. As early as 1843, the Senate concurred in a House resolution providing That the Secretary of War be requested to cause a plan and estimates to be prepared at the Topographical Bureau, or otherwise within his Department, and laid before Congress at its next session, for a room or apartmen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyorkpressofjjli
