Architectural Features
Exterior Architectural Art on the Capitol
The Statue of Freedom
Water Features
Bartholdi Fountain
The cast-iron Bartholdi Fountain, painted to look like bronze, weighs more than 15 tons and is 30 feet high. It is an allegorical representation of water and light, designed in three identical sections with classical forms and symbols. Initially displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia's Fairmont Park, it was purchased in 1877 by the United States government for $6,000. Its original gas lighting made the fountain one of the first nighttime attractions in Washington, D.C.
The Bartholdi Fountain is ornamented with alligator snapping turtles and large shells that surround the base. Three sea nymphs appear to hold the large basin, which is actually supported by the central column. Above the basin, three youthful tritons playfully hold out seaweed. Water spills from a crown at the very top into the upper basin, while jets near the bottom shoot from the mouths of fish and turtles.
In 1877 it was placed on the U.S. Botanic Garden grounds, which was then in the center of the National Mall. During the 1927–1932 relocation of the Botanic Garden, the fountain was dismantled, stored, and then erected where it now stands.
Battery-powered electric igniters replaced the gas lamps in 1881. The lights surrounding the large basin were added in 1885, and the fountain was completely electrified in 1915.
Capitol Reflecting Pool
The Capitol Reflecting Pool is located at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, DC. Six acres in size, it occupies over half of the area called Union Square. The pool was designed as a counterpart to the one at the western end of the Mall, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Since its completion in 1971, it has been a popular attraction.
The pool is set into a plaza that includes, on the east, the Ulysses S. Grant memorial; to its west is a tree-dotted grassy area that extends to Third Streets, NW and SW. Nearby tourist destinations include the United States Capitol, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and the museums and galleries along the Mall.
The broad, gently sloped limestone coping and the steps that lead down from ground level afford seating for visitors as they enjoy the reflections of the U.S. Capitol, the surrounding sights, and the sky as well as the ducks and seagulls that often swim in the pool.
The Court of Neptune Fountain
The Court of Neptune, the fountain at the front of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, along First Street, S.E., adds a dramatic note to the building. Its use of three sculptural groups set in front of niches was inspired by the popular 18th-century Trevi Fountain in Rome. New York sculptor Roland Hinton Perry was only 27 years old when he completed the fountain. About the inspiration for the sculpture, Perry said, "The powerful muscularity and strong movement of the groups seemed to me...to represent the intense activity, the restlessness, and push of our peoples."
Passersby enjoy the play of the jets of water on the majestic bearded and muscular king of the sea; his sons, the tritons, blowing conches; the frolicking, horseback-riding Nereids [sea nymphs]; and the water-spouting turtles, frogs, and sea serpent, placed in front of a grotto-like wall. The tritons and the seahorses have fish tails instead of legs. The figures are heroic in size; Neptune would be 12 feet tall if standing. The details of the figures are beautifully modeled and the active poses are life-like. The energetic lines of the waving hair and manes, the galloping feet, and the twisting bodies add to the sense of movement created by the jets of water.
The bronze figures were cast by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co., one of the finest foundries in the country at the time, and were shipped to Washington piece by piece. All were in place in early 1898, the year after the building opened.
The grotto was carved with dolphins and stalactites by Albert Weinert to complete the sculptural ensemble.
West Front Fountain
The granite-rimmed fountain on the lower west terrace between the grand stairs was built between 1891 and 1892. It consists of a simple octagonal bowl upheld by squat granite columns designed in the Romanesque style. This is a focal point on the West Front and serves as the location for the inaugural platform every 4 years.
Architectural Elements: Hardscape
Much of Olmsted's landscape legacy is architectural rather than horticultural. To distinguish these elements from plantings, modern-day landscape architects coined the term "hardscape." Olmsted's hardscape elements include the low walls bordering the walks and roads and the various lamps needed for lighting the grounds at night. Fountains, lanterns, and stone seatwalls are found on the east side of the Capitol, while Olmsted's most notable hardscape element, large terrace walls, wrap around the Capitol to the north, west, and south.
In 1874, Frederick Law Olmsted was charged with devising a comprehensive landscape scheme for the U.S. Capitol. Olmsted's major concern was the visual presentation of the Capitol Building and the support of its daily functions. He wrote, "the ground is in design part of the Capitol, but in all respects subsidiary to the central structure."
Some of Olmsted's significant hardscape elements are the large fountains and lamps on the East Front plaza of the U.S. Capitol. Restoration and modernization during the building of the Capitol Visitor Center introduced new technologies, such as a system that adjusts the fountain's water pressure levels according to the wind.
The terrace walls that wrap around the Capitol on the north, west, and south are constructed largely of Lee Massachusetts marble with a granite rubble foundation. The center west portion and balustrades are constructed of Vermont marble. The terrace was designed to give the Capitol a strong visual base and to heighten the grandeur of the building. It extends approximately 1,600 lineal feet and rises about 20 feet at its highest point.
Summerhouse
The Summerhouse, a hexagonal brick structure set into the sloping hillside of the West Front lawn on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol Building, has offered rest, water, and shelter to travelers for over a century. Construction on the Summerhouse began in 1879 and was completed in late 1880 or early 1881 by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Olmsted included the Summerhouse in his grounds plan to address complaints that visitors to the Capitol could not find water or a place to rest on their journey. He also used it as a setting for decorative vegetation.
The red brick used for its walls is laid in geometric and artistic patterns, and arched doorways occupy three of the walls. Inside, stone benches provide seating beneath roofs of red Spanish mission tile, and one window affords a view into a small grotto, where a stream of water falls and splashes over the rocks.
The fountain in the center of the building originally provided drinking water piped from a spring; the three individual drinking fountains connected to the filtered city water supply now provide drinking water.
