United States Capitol

===Design competition===
[[File:Capitol design by james diamond.jpg|thumb|left|Design for the U.S. Capitol, "An Elevation for a Capitol", a 1792 submission by James Diamond was ultimately not selected]]
[[File:Flickr - USCapitol - Thornton Capitol Winning Design.jpg|thumb|The winning design for the U.S. Capitol, submitted by [[William Thornton]]]]
In early 1792, Thomas Jefferson proposed a design competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the "President's House", and set a four-month deadline. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City. At least ten individuals submitted designs for the Capitol; however the drawings were regarded as crude and amateurish, reflecting the level of architectural skill present in the United States at the time.<ref>Allen (2001), p. 13–15</ref> The most promising of the submissions was by [[Étienne Sulpice Hallet|Stephen Hallet]], a trained French architect.<ref>Frary (1969), p. 28</ref> However, Hallet's designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, and were deemed too costly.<ref>Allen (2001), p. 18</ref>
[[File:Capitol1846.jpg|thumb|[[Daguerreotype]] of east side of the Capitol in 1846, by [[John Plumbe]], showing Bulfinch's dome]]
A late entry by amateur architect [[William Thornton]] was submitted on January 31, 1793, to much praise for its "Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty" by Washington, along with praise from Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the [[east front of the Louvre]], as well as the [[Pantheon, Paris|Paris Pantheon]] for the center portion of the design.<ref>Allen (2001), p. 19</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/adecenter/essays/B-Thornton.html | title=William Thornton (1759–1828) | publisher=Library of Congress | access-date=July 7, 2007 }}</ref> Thornton's design was officially approved in a letter dated April 5, 1793, from Washington, and Thornton served as the first [[Architect of the Capitol]] (and later first Superintendent of the [[U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]]).<ref>Frary (1969), p. 33</ref> In an effort to console Hallet, the commissioners appointed him to review Thornton's plans, develop cost estimates, and serve as superintendent of construction. Hallet proceeded to pick apart and make drastic changes to Thornton's design, which he saw as costly to build and problematic.<ref>Frary (1969), p. 34–35</ref> In July 1793, Jefferson convened a five-member commission, bringing Hallet and Thornton together, along with [[James Hoban]] (winning architect of the "President's Palace") to address problems with and revise Thornton's plan. Hallet suggested changes to the floor plan, which could be fitted within the exterior design by Thornton.<ref name="Allen 2001, p. 23">Allen (2001), p. 23</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefThom.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=178&division=div2 | work=Thomas Jefferson and the National Capital | title=Letter: Jefferson to Washington | date=July 17, 1793 | author=Jefferson, Thomas | publisher=University of Virginia | access-date=December 11, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221135738/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefThom.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=178&division=div2 | archive-date=February 21, 2011 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The revised plan was accepted, except that Secretary Jefferson and President Washington insisted on an open [[Alcove (architecture)|recess]] in the center of the East front, which was part of Thornton's original plan.<ref>Frary (1969), p. 36</ref>

The original design by Thornton was later modified by the British-American architects [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe|Benjamin Henry Latrobe Sr.]], and then [[Charles Bulfinch]].<ref name=WDL1>{{cite web | title=United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.: East Front Elevation, Rendering | url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/17 | publisher=[[World Digital Library]] | access-date=February 13, 2013 }}</ref> The [[United States Capitol dome|current cast-iron dome]] and the House's new southern extension and [[United States Senate|Senate]] new northern wing were designed by [[Thomas Ustick Walter]] and [[August Schoenborn]], a German immigrant, in the 1850s,<ref>{{cite web | last=Woods | first=Robert O. | url=http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/features/capdome/capdome.html | title=Under the Capitol Dome | work=Mechanical Engineering Magazine | publisher=The American Society of Mechanical Engineers | date=June 2003 | access-date=December 11, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126092928/http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/features/capdome/capdome.html | archive-date=January 26, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> and were completed under the supervision of [[Edward Clark (architect)|Edward Clark]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/capitol_construction.cfm | title=A Brief Construction History of the Capitol | publisher=Architect of the Capitol}}</ref>