Hall of Columns

The "Hall of Columns" emerged as part of the necessitated expansion of the north and south Capitol wings in the mid-nineteenth century due to the increased numbers of elected senators and representatives with the continued expansion of the United States westward and admission of more states to the Union from their previous status as Territories, now standing of 34.

Under the guidance of the then fourth Architect of the Capitol Thomas U. Walter, plans were drawn up to expand the two sides (wings) in the previous original central block of the Capitol (also location of the rotunda and low copper-covered dome above it from the original Capitol architects: William Thornton, followed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch architectural designs beginning in 1793) and build new, larger chambers with additional rooms and offices for both houses.

[1] Built directly beneath the Chamber of the House of Representatives, construction had begun sometime before 1855, with the implementation of a cast iron ceiling, forged in Baltimore by the well known local foundry Hayward, Bartlett, and Co.[2] The walls, themselves, were made with an imitation marble known as scagliola.

By 1855, all the columns, made from marble quarried from Lee, Massachusetts, were finished and set in place.

[2] Media related to United States Capitol - Hall of Columns at Wikimedia Commons