Except for the American flag, nothing symbolizes the United States more than the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.
“The Capitol: The Surprising Biography of an American Building” by Brian Jay Jones follows the building’s construction. It took a surprisingly long time to complete as it appears today. George Washington laid the cornerstone in 1793. The first structure was completed as originally planned in 1828. Construction was interrupted several times. The British burned the Capitol in 1814, in retaliation for U.S. troops burning York (today’s Toronto) in 1813.
Aesthetically, it is one of the world’s most attractive legislative buildings. It is easy to assume that its current appearance is what it has always looked like. Instead, like the country for which it is the legislative building, it has grown and evolved over its nearly 230-year history. Its metamorphosis is shown in the artwork of the façade….