The White House and the US Capitol: Venues which Narendra Modi will grace during his state visit

Tomorrow, PM Modi will then deliver a speech to a joint session of the US Congress at the Capitol building.

We take a brief look at the two historic venues which Narendra Modi will grace during his state visit – the White House and the US Capitol.

The White House

The White House is the official residence of the President of the United States (POTUS). Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in the heart of Washington DC, it has been home to every single US president since John Adams (1797-1801), successor of George Washington and the second POTUS.

A sketch of the White House (then referred to as the President’s House) by BH Latrobe , made in 1817. (Wikimedia Commons)

The original White House was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the neoclassical style. Construction began in 1792, and was largely done by African-American slaves. After eight years of construction, President John Adams moved into the still unfinished residence in 1800.

However, Adams’ stay in the White House was brief – in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson (1801-09) moved into the house, and got constructed the iconic East and West Colonnades. Today, Jefferson’s colonnades link the residence with the East and West Wings.

In 1814, the White House was set ablaze by British forces, in what is known as the Burning of Washington. This is the only time in US history that its capital came under direct attack. Most of the original building stood in ruins and had to be reconstructed. Hoban and BH Latrobe were in charge of this construction. James Monroe (1817-25) moved back into the building in 1817.

After the construction of the South and North Portico (the latter in 1829) the White House remained largely unchanged, except for some facile additions, for about 80 years. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, the building was in need for upgrades and suffered from overcrowding.

The Oval Office serves as the President’s working office. (Wikimedia Commons)

There were multiple suggestions to reconstruct the White House or even shift the presidential residence elsewhere. But finally, under President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09) a major renovation began in 1902. Notably, this led to the relocation of the president’s office to the West Wing, where it remains till date. In addition to renovations, he also officially gave the building its White House monicker. Roosevelt’s successor, William H Taft (1909-13), oversaw the construction of the iconic Oval Office in 1909.

The last major renovations to the White House took place under the administration of President Harry Truman (1945-53), which saw the construction of a new load-bearing internal steel frame, and the reconstruction of the original rooms within this new structure. Since then, no substantive architectural changes have been made to the building.

An aerial view of the White House and the surrounding grounds. (Wikimedia Commons)

Today, the building, synonymous with the POTUS and a symbol of the US’s power, boasts of 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 6 levels in the residence, with 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases, and 3 elevators.

The Capitol Building

The US Capitol Building, towering over the rest of Washington DC, seats the US Senate and House of Representatives – the two highest legislative bodies in the country. It is located on the eastern edge of the National Mall, on a plateau, 88 feet above the level of the Potomac, and has commanding views of the Washington Monument (2.3 km away) and the Lincoln Memorial (3.5 km away).

Construction began in 1793, but the progress was extremely slow, even by that time’s standards. Amateur architect William Thornton’s original plans would be revised repeatedly and the builders would face shortages of men and material. Thus, when the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the courts of the District of Columbia occupied the building, in late 1800 it remained incomplete.

It was finally in 1804 that the construction picked up pace, with Latrobe now taking charge. While the south wing was completed by 1811, the War of 1812 saw funds diverted elsewhere, leaving the Capitol’s construction incomplete. Finally, in 1814, just like the White House, the Capitol was set on fire by British troops with a sudden rainstorm the only thing that prevented it from burning to the ground.

In 1815, Latrobe was rehired to finish the work at the Capitol. Finally, under Charles Bulfinch the restoration of the north and south wings was done in order to make it ready for the use of the Supreme Court, the House, and the Senate by 1819. Bulfinch also redesigned and supervised the construction of the Capitol Building’s central section with its copper-covered wooden dome completed in 1826.

By 1850, the Capitol was already getting extremely overcrowded, unable to accommodate the ever increasing number of senators and representatives from the newly admitted states. Beginning in 1851, major renovations and reconstructions were undertaken under the stewardship of Thomas U Walter.

The US Capitol, western face. (Wikimedia Commons)

The House of Representatives was able to meet in its new chamber on December 16, 1857, and the Senate first met in its present chamber on January 4, 1859. Construction was temporarily paused in 1861, as the US got engulfed in the Civil War but was restarted just a year later, while the war was still on.

By this time, it was apparent that the original dome was inappropriate for the expanded building’s size. Work on the dome would be completed in 1865, the year the Civil War finally drew to a close. In 1866, the Italian-born artist Constantino Brumidi finished the canopy fresco, a monumental painting entitled The Apotheosis of Washington. The Capitol extensions were completed in 1868.

The heavy expenses incurred in the construction of the capital during the War had drawn criticism from many quarters. But as President Abraham Lincoln remarked at the time, “If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.”

Since the 1870s, no major architectural changes have been made in the Capitol. While the facilities have been repeatedly modified and a major renovation and strengthening of the building was carried out in the 1980s, the Capitol stands as it stood during the nineteenth century.

In 2008, a Visitor Centre was opened in the Capitol. The entire facility is located underground and contains exhibits, orientation displays, theaters and other facilities to make the visitor’s experience in the Capitol more informative and meaningful.