Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/433760
THE CAPITOL DOME 43 semicircular arrangement (see the article by R ichard Chenoweth in this issue). e Car of History (fig. 2) over the doorway was carved, to Latrobe's design, by Carlo Franzoni. e columns in the Hall of Representatives were marble with the Corinthian capitals carved in Italy rather than the freestone capitals carved in place in the original building. Another innovation was the tobacco leaf capital used in the small rotunda of the Senate wing. Necessarily more slender for architectural reasons than the expected Ionic order, they could also not be of the Corinthian acanthus, inappropriate for the Senate wing. Latrobe also began to design the center wing with a deeper west wing to contain the Library of Congress. When completed by Bulfinch, the building reflected the work of Latrobe and the dedication of his patron omas Jefferson to create a chaste "museum of antiquity" to raise the level of architecture in the United States. As late as 1829, there were only about 600 men in Washing - ton directly employed by the government. Two months of the year were sufficient for the Supreme Court to carry out its role in Washington; Congress needed to meet only between harvest and spring planting; the cabinet and Chief Executive mainly lived elsewhere for the three months of the summer season. e federal government limited its contribution to rebuild - ing the public buildings. It was left to the local elite to rebuild and enhance the city itself. With new security as to the perma- nence of the capital residing in the District, the City Council for the first time funded the paving of footpaths, the planting of trees, and in 1820 the building of the City Hall with its Ionic portico on Judiciary Square. John Peter Van Ness and his wife Marcia Burnes Van Ness Fig. 2. Latrobe's 1815 redesign of the House Chamber included this design for the Car of History over the northern entrance. L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S PRIN T S AND PHOTO GR APHS DIVISION